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PUBLISHED BY THE GENERAL BOARD
Joseph F. Smith HeberJ.Grant
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Editors Alpha J. Higgs
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"The Glory of God is Intelligence."
VOL. XL NOVEMBER, 1907. NO. 1
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IMPROVEMENT ERA.
Vol. XI. NOVEMBER. 1907. No. 1
LOST SCRIPTURES.
BY FREDERIC CLIFT, A. B., M. D.
In a previous article* we considered more particularly the
history and value of certain historical and alleged scripture writ-
ings, which, because of their uncertain origin and authority, have
been excluded from the several canons of Sacred Writ. Many of
these writings, however, were read in the public services of the
early Church, and in addition were largely quoted from by the an-
cient Fathers in their theological discussions and treatises. They
became, however, early corrupted by both intentional and uninten-
tional omissions and interpolations; and to such an extent was
this carried, that they are called the Apocryphal, or doubtful,
Scriptures. Many authorities consider them to be absolutely spu-
rious. Modern revelation reveals to the Latter-day Saints the fact
that whilst "there are many things contained therein [the Apoc-
rypha] that are true, and it is mostly translated correctly; there
are many things contained therein that are not true, which are
interpolations by the hands of men." f In addition to these, how-
ever, we have traces of certain "Lost Scriptures" of, as yet, un-
ascertained value, which are liable to be found at any time. Some
* Improvement Era, Vol. X, p. 849, "Apocryphal and Lost Scriptures."
f Doc. and Cov. , sec. 91: 1-2.
2 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
of them are mentioned or referred to in the commonly accepted
books of our Bible, but no recognized or authentic copies are
known to exist. Alleged copies of some are claimed by a few
critics to be authentic, but they are not accepted as such by Bibli-
cal authorities, even to the extent of being classed as Apocryphal.
Among such "Lost Scriptures" we find the following:
1. Book of the Wars of Jehovah. Nu. 21: 14.
2. Book of Jasher. Jos. 10:13.
3. Book of the Statutes of the Kingdom of Israel. I Sam. 10: 25.
4. Book of Acts of Solomon. I Ki. 11: 41.
5. Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. I Ki. 14: 19.
6. Book of Nathan the Prophet. I Ch. 29: 29.
7. Book of Gad the Seer. I Ch. 29: 29.
8. Book of Ahijah the Prophet. II Ch. 9: 29.
9. Book of Iddo the Seer. II Ch. 9: 29.
10. Book of Shemaiah the Prophet. II Ch. 12: 15.
11. Book of the Story of the Prophet Iddo. II Ch. 13: 22.
12. Book of Jehu. II Ch. 20: 34.
13. Book of the Sayings of the Seers. II Ch. 33: 19.
14. Book of the Story of the Kings. II Ch. 24: 29.
15. A third Epistle of Paul to Corinthians. Not found in N. T. I Cor. 5: 9.
16. A fourth Epistle of Paul to Corinthians. Not found in N. T. II Cor.
2: 3 and 7: 8.
17. A previous Epistle of Paul to Ephesians. Not found in N. T. Eph. 3: 3.
18. A previous Epistle of Paul to Colossians, from Laodicea. Col. 4: 16.
19. A previous Epistle of Jude. Jude. 3.
20. The Prophecy of Enoch. Jude. 14.
21. The many different Writers before Luke. Luke 1: 1-3.
Recalling the history of the Bible, we find that it is composed
of a collection of sixty-six books or volumes of scripture. At the
Council of Carthage, 397 A. D., these sixty-six books were held to
be sacred, and inspired by God himself, whilst many others were
held to be Apocryphal, doubtful or spurious, and were in conse-
quence rejected by the bishops at that council. All the original
manuscripts of both the accepted and rejected books are lost or
destroyed. We are therefore compelled to rely upon copies made
by scribes from the original manuscripts prior to their loss or de-
struction. This work being done by hand, prior to the discovery
of the art of printing, the mistakes of the transcriber — oftentimes
merely a copyist and not a linguist — whether intentional or other-
wise, were perpetuated and added to in the subsequent copies. By
LOST SCRIPTURES. 3
comparing the copies one with another it has been possible to build
up certain texts, which have been accepted by Bible students as
fairly accurate transcripts of that which the original manuscripts
must have contained. All critical translators accept the following
as being the most ancient and reliable copies yet discovered:
1. The Vatican, or Codex "B." This copy is now at Rome,
in the custody of the Western or Latin-Roman Church.
2. The Sinaitic, or Codex "Alept." This copy is now at St.
Petersburg, in the custody of the Eastern or Greek-Rus-
sian Church.
3. The Alexandrian, or Codex "A." This copy is now at the
British Museum, London. It is a treasure of the English
or Anglican and Protestant Churches.
The Alexandrian copy was formerly in the possession of Cyril-
lus, Patriarch of Constantinople. It was by him presented to King
Charles I, of England, in the year 1628, A. D., seventeen years
after the publication of the King James, or Authorized Version
of the English Bible, and therefore too late to be of service in the
preparation of that translation.
In addition to these standard copies, made in the language in
which they were originally written, there are innumerable transla-
tions or so called versions, which have been made into the more
modern languages of Christendom from the original Hebrew, Syri-
ac, Chaldaic, Greek and other languages. Many of these, as well
as perhaps original manuscripts, were purposely hidden, and being
still undiscovered, are classed as "lost scriptures." The reasons
for such concealment are found in the fact that during the several
periods of persecution, it was often necessary to hide the Christian
Scriptures, not only for their preservation, but also to conceal
evidence which would have been sufficient to send those in posses-
sion of them to a martyr's death. Death, however, came to many
who had no opportunity after their arrest to disclose to their as-
sociates the hiding places of these sacred treasures. Scientific
research in Egypt and Asia has, however, already led to the re-
covery of many valuable record?; and, as the hiding place of the
plates of the Book of Mormon was revealed to Joseph Smith by
direct revelation, it is reasonable to suppose that God may in his
own due time — in like manner — reveal other records, as our neces-
sities may require. The spirit of investigation is abroad among
4 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
the peoples of the earth. English, German, French, Americans,
and others, have investigators in the various fields in which Archeo-
logical records may be found, and are vieing with one another in
their efforts to unfold and obtain a correct estimate of their value.
Some are anxious to establish the tiuth of the sacred historical
record, as given to us in the Bible, by accurate and reverent in-
vestigation; whilst ethers seek to negative and minimize the con-
firmatory evidence arising from the cumulative effects of such dis-
coveries, by destructive criticisms. The sustained efforts to recover
the records of the past, from the tombs of Egypt and the libraries
of the old eastern monasteries, have resulted in many important
discoveries, which tend to establish our belief in the "God of
Heaven" — the "Living God" and to discredit the theosophical wor-
ship of science. Among the records already discovered are frag-
ments of gospels and epistles, which, with more or less evidence
of truth, are alleged to have been written by the associates of our
blessed Lord: as also some of more recent date. Further dis-
coveries of inscribed tablets in the ruins of Babylonia, Assyria, etc.,
largely confirm the truth of the history as given to us in the Old
Testament. The Book of Mormon establishes the origin and iden-
tity of the American Indian, and in due time, other scriptures may
be brought forth from their hiding places for the encouragement
and enlightenment of the children of men. Possibly we, as Latter-
day Saints, may be negligent along these lines of investigation, and
are not making diligent and prayerful efforts to obtain the further
records, which we know to exist, of the Jaredites, the Nephites,
and the Lamanites — the old time inhabitants of this continent.
Following, however, in the footsteps of those who have already
done so much for the recovery of the records of the ar cient people
of Asia, the way is being opened for scientific exploration of the
buried cities and prehistoric ruins of America. The University of
Chicago has had an exploring party in the Asiatic field of archeo-
logy for several years. The University of Utah, as also the
Brigham Young University, have seemingly adopted the idea of,
"explore Asia if you will, but explore America first, " by sending
exploring parties to the south- eastern portions of Utah, and through
Mexico and Central America, to the northern portion of South
America, with the most promising results.
LOST SCRIPTURES. 5
In Palenque, Chiapas, Copan, Quiragna, Izamal, Uxmal,
Chichen-Itza, and other ancient cities of the Mayas, Toltecs, and
Aztecs in Central America and Mexico, are to be found temples,
palaces, statues and bas-reliefs, strikingly similar to, and rivalling
in beauty and splendor, those of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Media
and Palestine. Where are the "Lost Records or Scriptures" of the
people who built these cities?
Le Plongeon, a noted explorer and author tells us:
The country known today as Yucatan, one of the states of the Mexican con-
federacy, may indeed be justly regarded by the ethnologist, the geologist, the
naturalist, the philologist, the archeologist, and the historian, as a most interest-
ing field of study. Its area of 73,000 square miles, covered with dense forests, is
literally strewn with the ruins of numerous antique cities, majestic temples, stately
palaces, the work of learned architects, now heaps of debris, crumbling under the
inexorable tooth of time, and the impious hand of iconoclastic collectors of relics
for museums. Among these the statutes of priests and kings, mutilated and de-
faced by the action of the elements, the hand of time and that of man, lie pros-
trate in the dust. Walls covered with bas-reliefs, inscriptions and sculptures
carved in marble, containing the panegyrics of rulers, the history of the nation,
its cosmogonical traditions, the ancient religious rites and observances of its
people, inviting decipherment, attract the attention of the traveler. * * * *
Now mark Le Plongeon's statement as to the whereabouts of
their "Lost Records:"
At the time of the invasion of the country by the turbulent and barbaric
Nahutals, the books containing the record of the ancient traditions of the history
of past ages, from the settlement of the Peninsula by its primitive inhabitants,
had been carefully hidden {and have so remained to this day) by the learned phil-
osophers and the wise priests who had charge of the libraries, in the temples and
colleges, in order to save the precious volumes from the hands of the barbarous
tribes from the west. These, entering the country from the south, came spreading
ruin and destruction. They destroyed the principal cities: the images of the
heroes, of the great men, of the celebrated women that adorned the public squares
and edifices. This invasion took place in the year 522 or thereabout of the Chris,
tian era — according to the opinion of modern computators. *
Joseph Smith, the inspired Prophet of God, fixes this date in
the following statement-:
More than four hundred and twenty years have passed away since the sign
was given of the coming [birth] of Christ, t
* Queen Moo and The Egyptian Sphinx, by Augustus Le Plongeon, Intro,
p. 27.
t Book of Mormon. Moroni 10: 1. Helaman 14: 4.
IMPROVEMENT ERA.
Dr. Le Plongeon is not a follower of Joseph Smith, and does
not believe in his divine mission, or in the inspiration of the Book
of Mormon. He refuses to recognize Joseph Smith as a competent
"modern computator." He, however, spent many years in ex-
cavating and uncovering the secret chambers, and the many
mysteries of these cities. He, today, asserts and believes that the
records and history of these prehistoric peoples were "hidden by
their philosophers and priests," but he fails to recognize the hand
of God, and although a forerunner in the work of archeological
research, it was not given to him to bring these records forth.
The Lord's work, however, is not to be hindered by the unwilling-
ness of men to recognize his divine power. Where, then, are we
to look for these hidden records? Our Father will indicate the
place, for when — the ''times and seasons" according to his "de-
terminate counsel and foreknowledge" shall have been fulfiled —
he will sweep aside the barriers, which now prevent a thorough
examination of the tombs and monuments of departed races; and
the very stores will cry out and declare the power of the Most
High. He who runs may read the history of the primitive races
of this country, not only as found in the buried cities of Yucatan,
but also in the hieroglyphics blazened on the rocks of Utah and
the other pristine abodes of a yet almost unknown people. As the
miner has faith, and in consequence of that faith seeks for the
gold and precious metals of the earth, so let us have the necessary
faith to seek for knowledge, in the historic relics of the past — the
buried cities of this continent — knowing well that archeological
and scientific investigation will confirm the truth in part disclosed
to us in the Book of Mormon. Geology forces the scientist to re-
cognize conditions which can be readily accounted for by the hap-
pening of the event known to Biblical readers as the flood. Eth-
nological facts compel these same men to acknowledge a scatter-
ing of the people and a confounding of their language; as also
that where these scattered families have further separated them-
selves and filled up the vacant places of the earth, they have car-
ried with them in their several languages a common stock or root.
A comparison of the Maya letters or symbols with those of the
Chaldaic, Arabic, Hebrew and Egyptian languages, indicates to Le
Plongeon's satisfaction that the Maya race possesses this root of a
LOST SCRIPTURES. 7
common language. Today, archeology compels the scientist to
acknowledge that the already discovered relics of the Mayas of
Yucatan, indicate their Asiatic origin, whilst Le Plongeon suggests
and seeks to prove, — from the fact that the civilization of Egypt
sprung up suddenly, as in a night, — that Egypt was colonized from
America by these same Mayas under the leadership of Queen Moo
of Yucatan, and that the Maya race were already in possession of
the highest arts of civilization. These facts, and the inferences to
be derived therefrom, show that during the past fifty years the
belief has taken root, and that there is now a general concensus of
opinion in favor of the theory, that the American Indian is of
Asiatic origin. On the other hand, what has Theology to say in
regard to the Ethnological origin of these, our "Native Races?"
The Bible tells us that after the flood — "in his [Peleg's] days was
the earth divided" * — "and the whole earth was of one language
and of one speech and it came to pass as they journeyed in the east,
* * Jehovah said * * come, let us go down and there confound
their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of
all the earth." f We also read, in certain miraculously recovered
Scriptures which, had been hidden or lost, that at the time this
took place there were two brothers — and that one of them named
Jared requested the other — a man highly favored of the Lord — to
1 'cry unto the Lord that he will not confound us that we may not
understand our words." $ The Lord granted their request and
allowed them and their families to keep together, and promised to
bless them and their seed. It is stated that they traveled north-
ward, and "that the Lord did go before them and did talk with
them," and that they "did build barges in which they did cross
many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord ;"
and that they came "forth even unto the land of promise which
was choice above ail other lands. "§ This "Lost Record" of Jared,
who lived about 2,200 B.C., also relates the history of certain other
* Gen. 10: 25, Amer. Rev., 1901.
t Gen. 11: 1-8, Amer. Rev., 1901.
X Book of Mormon. Ether, Chap. 1: 34.
\ Book of Mormon. Ether 2: 5-7.
8 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
families, who left Jerusalem in Asia, and came to this continent
of America some 600 years before the birth of Christ. It describes
their cities, habits of life, and their wars. It also gives the name
of the founder and the origin of the beautiful buildings, palaces
and temples, described by Le Plongeon, as follows:
And it came to pass that King Noah built many elegant and spacious build-
ings ; and he ornamented them with fine work of wood, and of all manner of pre-
cious things, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of brass, and of ziff, and of
copper; and he also built him a spacious palace, and a throne in the midst there-
of, all of which was of fine wood, and was ornamented with gold and silver, and
with precious things. And he also caused that his workmen should work all man-
ner of fine work within the walls of the temple, of fine wood, and of copper, and
of brass. * * * And it came to pass that he caused many buildings to be built
in the land Shilom; and he caused a great tower to be built on the hill north of
the land Shilom, which had been a resort for the children of Nephi, at the time
they fled out of the land.*
These recent explorers repudiate the idea that they consulted
this ' 'Lost Record," when they prepared their account of these
cities and dwelling places of the Mayas, Toltecs and Aztecs.
Nevertheless, the chief facts of the "record" are found to accord
with the conditions found to exist today: and although these re-
cords confirm their scientific discoveries, they are declared by the
wise and learned to have been a pure invention and fraudulent,
chiefiy on the ground that Joseph Smith claimed to have received
them in a miraculous manner, as also, mirabile dictu, to have
translated them under Divine inspiration. But whether miraculous
or not, many of the most important facts of this record were un-
known to the scientific men of 1828-1830, although known to
Joseph Smith and by him published in 1830.
"Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" f
"Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this
people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, and the wisdom of
their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their pru-
dent men shall be hid. " $ Can it be urged with any degree of
reason, that this ignorant boy could have invented and published
* Book of Mormon. Mosiah 11: 8-13.
t I Cor. 1:20.
% Isa. 29: 14; Amer. Kev., 1901.
LOST SCRIPTURES. 9
not merely -one, but a number or series of historical facts which
fifty years or more after his death, — by archeological and other
scientific research, — are found to be absolutely true and correct?
It is incredible, and those who are willing to probe into all the
circumstances are driven to accept the fact that the records
are true, and that Joseph Smith the uneducated youth must
have been inspired when he made the translation of the
recovered records. Consider, the Maya letters and sym-
bols were at the time, — 1830, — unknown, but a transcript of
a portion of the Book of Mormon records having been submitted
to Professor Anthon, a philologist of repute, he reported that the
letters or symbols of that record resembled Chaldaic, Assyriac,
Egyptian and Arabic characters. What a coincidence that these
self-same letters and symbols of the record should be similar to
those since found by Le Plongeon to have been used by the
Mayas. What does the record itself say? — Nephi, one of the re-
corders writes: "I make a reord in the language of my father,
which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the
Egyptians."* Another of the writers, Mormon, after whom the
record is named, says, "And now behold, we have written this re-
cord according to our knowledge in the characters, which are
called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed do vn and
altered by us, according to our manner of speech. And if our
plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew;
but the Hetrew hath been altered by us also, "f This interesting
question in philology is only one of many others which has to be
explained by the scientist, if Joseph Smith was a fraud, and not
an inspired translator of the record. The recovery of the ' 'Lost
Records" is in accord with our Father's providential dealings with
his children. He has been a revealer of secrets by the mouth of
his holy prophets since the world began: and in the recovery of a
portion of those relating to this continent — the Book of Mormon,
we see only the fulfilment of the promises relating to these latter
days. He has declared that this American continent was the home
of our first parents. Is it impossible or incredible? Wherein lay
* Book of Mormon. I Nephi 1: 1-2. Mosiah 1: 2-6.
t Book of Mormon. Mormon 9: 32-33 and notes.
10 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
the superiority of the Eastern hemisphere, that we should doubt
the word of God? The Bible nowhere indicates the location of
Paradise, except by general reference to geographical names such
as Euphrates, etc. ; these names being used since the Noachian
dispensation to indicate certain places in Asia, which might just
as readily refer to the Missouri and other known American loca-
tions. Seme of the early Church Fathers expressed the belief
that their ancestors came from a far off country in the West; but
the idea was lost sight of, and was not clothed with any kind of
reality until after Joseph Smith had declared such to be the case.
If Joseph was the clever fraud that some would have us believe,
he surely missed the mark, it seems to me, when he asserted him-
self to be a Prophet of God, and the recipient of angelic visita-
tions, and thus placed himself in the one position of all others in
which he would be hated of all men. He should have posed as a
scientist, an ethnologist, or archeologist — an Agnostic or Unita-
rian, and, as such, been acclaimed a wise man instead of a fraud.
If Tyndale, Huxley, Ingersoll, Payne, Darwin and others had ad-
vanced their theories in the name or under a religious sanction,
some of them would probably have been hounded to death. On the
other hand, the flag of infidelity, coupled with his admittedly
wonderful gifts, would have carried Joseph Smith to the highest
pinnacle of fame, if he had been other than a believer in the power
and desire of God to reveal himself to his children. Science has
no doubt led to the discovery of many of the secrets of the past
history of the nations; if, however, it be coupled with the Divine
blessings, there is no reason to doubt but that men will be led to
discoveries which will far exceed any yet made. One of the most
recent and notable is that of Brugech Bey, the great Egyptolo-
gist, who has found an inscription, telling how the Nile failed to
rise for seven years in succession about 1700 years before the
Christian Era, and how that a long and terrible famine was the
consequence. Now, B. C. 1700 is the date recognized as the
beginning of the "seven lean years," suffered by the land of
Pharaoh after the king had dreamt of them, and Joseph had ex-
pounded his dream. Nothing is so astonishing and so calculated
to establish our faith, as the confirmation, bit by bit, of the Sacred
LOST SCRIPTURES. 11
Scriptures through the enterprise of explorers and excavators, and
the perseverance of our scholars.
It is part of the belief of the Latter-day Saints, as I view it,
that it is necessary for God's children to put forth every effort to
help themselves before they return to him empty-handed. We know
that, as fathers and mothers, we sometimes place slight obstacles
in the way of our children, or give them somewhat difficult lessons
in order to draw out their capabilities, and thus give opportunities
for instruction. When the lesson has been learnt, the burden is
removed, and a free gift of that which has been earnestly sought
for, often follows. As the heavenly is a pattern of the earthly, we
may draw the conclusion that when our Father in heaven finds us
willing to follow his lead, he gives us all that we ask for, and fre-
quently something more.
May it not be our duty to seek for the "Lost Records, or
Scriptures" of the forefathers of the native races of this country,
the Jaredites, the Nephites, and the Lamanites? Dr. Le Plongeon
tells us they will be found "carefully hidden by the learned phil-
osophers and the wise priests," and that they will be recovered from
the "ruins of numerous antique cities, majestic temples, stately
palaces, now heaps of debris, crumbling under the inexorable
tooth of time." This offers a tempting field to the believer in the
Book of Mormon. Further investigation will, in the good time of
the Father, disclose the dwelling place of the Ten Tribes in Arsa-
reth and put us in possession of the additional scriptures which
have been given to them, during their sojourn there, apart and
separated from thmr brethren. The vision showing the conditions
connected with their future return should be of interest to the
Saints: "Then dwelt they there until the latter time; and now
when they shall begin to come, the Highest shall stay the springs
of the stream again, that they may go through; therefore sawest
thou the multitude with peace. But those that be left behind of
thy people are they that are found within my borders. Now when
he destroyeth the multitude of the nations that are gathered to-
gether, he shall defend his people that remain. And then shall he
show them great wonders."*
* IIEsdras 13:46-50.
12 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
The records of the past, I believe, are within our grasp, per-
haps within our very view, if we had but the eye of faith. When
we have diligently done all that we can, and lived in full practice
of the scriptures we already have, and the ' 'times and seasons" of
the Father are fulfilled, then further records will doubtless be
forthcoming — miraculously, perhaps, as in the case of the Book of
Mormon — for the confounding of his enemies and the advancement
of his work. Until the Father directs our course of action, let us
all strive to so educate our minds and bodies that we may fit our-
selves for the toil and labor incident to the great work connected
with the opening up of these treasures when God shall "show great
wonders."
A concluding paper on this subject will be entitled "A Third
Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians," as found in the Armenian
Bible.
Provo, Utah.
THE STORM GOD-
(For the Improvement Era.)
There cometh with lowering brow,
Out from the gates of the west,
The awful god of storms
Filled with a great unrest.
When he roars his stern commands,
The echo shakes the hills;
When he hurls his javelins of fire,
Man's heart with terror thrills.
Beneath his ' 'Juggernaut car, ' '
The forest kings bow down,
He lays in waste the fields,
He leaves in ruin the town.
He laughs at the might of men,
And scorns their puny power,
And the patient work of years,
He levels in an hour.
He drive th his steeds — the winds,
O'er mountain, valley and sea,
Then turns to his home in the skies,
And earth from his reign is free.
Salt Lake City, Utah. Maud Baggarley.
THE THOUGHTS OF A FARMER.
BY DR. JOSEPH M. TANNER.
I— FARM LIFE.
Being a farmer, I would like to tell your readers something
about a farmer's life and a farmer's philosophy. Farmers are
really philosophers, and have theories about life which perhaps
most of them are too timid to express. You know, the classifica-
tion of society changes. In ancient Rome the merchant belonged
to the inferior type. Today, in America, he is at the top, espe-
cially if he makes money. In Russia, a man who tills the soil is a
mujik, an object of pity; in France he is a peasant, a man with a
hoe, a degenerated specimen of a higher type that once existed; in
America he, is a farmer, and he really prefers to be called a farmer,
though there are many who are trying with commendable zeal to
uplift his profession and call him an agriculturist.
Now the business of farming, however scientific it becomes,
should really make a man a farmer. But someone will ask me,
What is the real difference between a farmer and an agriculturist?
Sometime ago I read a joke, which like many jokes tell the truth
in a fascinating way, and that, too, without offense. Someone was
asked what the difference was between an agriculturist and a far-
mer. The reply which contained both wit and philosophy was that
an agriculturist is a man who makes his money in the city and goes
on a farm to spend it, while a farmer is a man who makes his
money on the farm and goes into the city to spend it. The gist
of the answer really was that the farmer is the man who does
things, while the agriculturist talks and experiments. It took us
farmers a long time to pronounce correctly the word, agriculturist,
and when we became slightly familiar with such exalted language,
14 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
the modern agriculturist created for* us a new difficulty. We are
now, if you please, agronomists.
My neighbor is a farmer. He was once a school teacher. He
uses good English, reads the newspapers, and is abreast current
events. What makes him an interesting man is the fact that he
can do things. He says that his father was a farmer, a successful
farmer, that his father really enjoyed farm life, and that he him-
self really likes work on the farm, because he inherited a desire to
do things, and that after all there is more pleasure in doing than
most people imagine. He says he likes to talk, but finds there is
more real joy in what he does than in what he says, when he is
doing and saying things that are proper and good.
I am told that some boys stick up their noses at the idea of
farming. Now I suspect that such boys are guilty of a folly of
that kind, not because they really know what farming means, but
there is nothing above their noses to keep them down, and that they
would rise anyhow. You know there are some people who can
stick up their noses without much effort.
The life of the farmer is changing, When modern methods
and the improvements that come along with civilized life made
themselves felt on the farm, and especially when they made money-
making on the farm easy, people began to have more respect for
the occupation. Today the farmer is sometimes greatly in need
of intelligence — intelligence coupled with the willingness and the
ability to do things, and to do things at the right time. The man
who is successful on the farm is the man who is full of plans, who
thinks, and then works to his plans and materializes his thoughts.
When our young men really learn to appreciate the reward which
the farming of the future will bestow upon its devotees, they will
take more kindly to the work. Old fashioned farming will then
be a thjng of the past, just as old fashioned school teaching, old
fashioned mechanics, and old fashioned merchants, are passing
away.
I wonder how many of our boys have heard of what certain
men are doing on the farm in the southern part of Cache valley,
what some ambitious beet growers are yearly adding to their stock
of wealth. It would pay a young man to visit Bishop Farrell of
Smithfield and accept his hospitality for a week. A pilgrimage to
THE THOUGHTS OF A FARMER.
15
Juab bench to see the Grace Brothers and the Paxmans would be
remunerative. A winter in the school room with Dr. Widtsoe to
the young man who possesses energy and intelligence would be the
guarantee of a good future income. There are, today, perhaps,
more openings on the farm, in stock-raising, fruit-raising, as well
as in the cultivation of grain, than in any other occupation open
to the youth of our country.
Then, the farm is a source of real pleasure that no other oc-
cupation in life gives. It is peculiarly the occupation of pleasure
FARM FAVORITES.
in that it guards young men against so many ailments that tell
against their happiness in other work. The man on the farm has
rareV any quarrel with his stomach. His sleep is never disturbed
except when he finds it necessary to get up unusually early. The
farm offers no temptation to exaggerate, and it teaches dailv the
virtue of telling the truth. It is quite impossible on the farm to
make things appear other than what they really are!
16 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
Besides the good health which the farm gives, it is ODe of
the best expounders of true religion, and it promotes faith in the
heart of the conscientious man who tills the soil. There is ever
present the thought that whatever he may do, God must give the
increase. Sometimes a man becomes indifferent, sometimes un-
interrupted, harvests diminish the trustful and hopeful reliance in
a Providential care. Then a drought ccmes; a hail storm pays
him a visit; then he sits down amidst the ruins of his disappoint-
ments to reflect upon the uncertainties of life and the necessity of
a heartfelt preparation to meet them.
But the farm also makes a man a philosopher, provided, of
course, he ever reflects. In the articles to follow, I would
like to tell my young readers about the philosophy of the farm.
They may think a farmer is not much of a philosopher because he
does not read all the time. But reading all the time is one of the
things which keeps many of our young people from thinking part
of the time. If many read less and thought more, they would
build up about their lives a philosophical aspect to things. A far-
mer's philosophy may not always meet the requirements of a
logician; it does something better than that, however, it meets the
requirements of his own individual life. The farmer may get a
philosophy that is practically good, even if it be not always theoret-
ically correct. The philosophy that goes beyond the comprehension
of the ordinary man may be the delight of the scholar, but it does
not afford any real guide for the working principles of life. Farm
life encourages serious and helpful reflections. How I think, and
what I think, while at work on the farm, will be, if the editor finds
no objection, the subjects of a number of articles entitled, The
Thoughts of a Farmer.
(to be continued.)
Alberta, Canada.
REWARDS.
I say to you that there are rewards which are unknown to him who seeks only
what he regards as the substantial ones. The best of all is the pure joy of ser-
vice. To do things that are worth doing, to be in the thick of it, ah ! that is to
live.— Secretary Wm. H. Taft.
, ROMANCE OF A MISSIONARY.
BY NEPHI ANDERSON, AUTHOR OF "ADDED UPON," "THE CASTLE
BUILDER," ETC.
I.
GETTING "WET OVER."
It looked as if it might rain any minute. One of the elders was
fearful that it would, the other that it would not. If the v, ater
from the black overhanging clouds come down in actual drops
instead of in a fine misty drizzle, why, of course, the street
meeting would have to be abandoned, —and this is what Elder
Willard Dean half prayed in his heart would happen.
I said "half prayed" because there was a struggle in the mind
of the young man. He was a newly arrived elder, having been in
England only a few weeks. He had accompanied Elder Walter
Donaldson, his companion, to a number of street meetings, but
as yet, he had not been required to take part in them to any great
extent. This evening his companion had intimated that it was time
he was testing his voice in the open, and this is the reason why the
young man walked with fear and trembling throughout the crowded
street.
The streets of an English manufacturing city are usually
crowded on Saturday evening. The mills have closed early; the
young men and women have been home, have had their "tea,"
have changed their work garments to cleaner ones, and are now
promenading the streets, enjoying the freedom of the open. They
are a happy, merry crowd, exchanging greetings and banterings
as they pass and repass, the girls ahead linked arm in arm, the
young men following.
18 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
This Saturday evening, in this particular English city of Brad-
ford, there appeared to be an unusually large crowd. The weather
had been wet all week, but now the clouds had lifted for a few
hours, the sun had shone for a few minutes through the murky,
yellow mist, and these favorable tokens had, no doubt, brought out
the people. However, the clouds had again lowered, and the rain
was once more threatening.
The young "Mormon" elders pushed themselves carefully
through the crowd, looking for a good corner on which to hold a
meeting. Here, certainly, were people enough, to form an audience
but these were not the kind that stopped and listened to a street
preacher; besides, the police would not allow a blockade in the prin-
cipal thoroughfares; they, therefore, went on to a part of the city
less densely packed.
Elder Dean slipped his hand into his campanion's arm as they
walked along. He looked up to the sky, then at the mass of the
humanity around him, and then into the face of Elder Donaldson;
but in none of these did he find any hope of relief for the task
that was before him. How could he stand out there on the pave-
ment and raise his voice so that people would stop and listen to
him! If they would only not stop nor listen, it might not be so bad,
but likely, some at least would. They would look closely into his
face, and listen carefully to every stammering word that he would
utter. They would see his nervous, awkward manner, they would
mark well his faltering speech. Oh, if it would only rain!
Willard Dean clasped his friend's arm tighter, and drew up
closer. "Brother," said he, "don't call on me tonight. I feel as
though I can't do it."
' 'But you must begin sometime, you know, and this evening
is as good a time as any. Brace up, my boy, and trust in the
Lord."
"Yes, I know, but you can't conceive how I feel — "
"Can't I? I haven't forgotten my first experience in London.
But, Brother, let me assure you, it is not so bad as it appears.
There is really nothing to fear. An English crowd will hurt no
one."
"It isn't that, at all. I'm afraid of myself more than the
people."
Drawn by Denzil Long for the Era.
'Yes, I am a 'Mormon,' " shouted Willard Dean, "and I am not ashamed of it."
20 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
"Listen," said Elder Donaldson, ' 'do you remember when as
boys we went swimming?"
"Yes."
"Well, you remember what a time it was to wet over. We
would stand on the bank shivering and hesitating, afraid of the
cold water. A shower of water from someone splashing in the
creek was not very pleasant; but once we plunged bravely in and
got well wet over, everything was all right and swimming was
great fun. Well, this missionary work is very much like that.
An eMer must get 'wet over' and keep 'wet over' or he is in misery
all the time. Here is a good ccrner for a meeting."
Elder Donaldson stepped out from the pavement a short dis-
tance into a bystreet where he would not be interfering with the
traffic. He took his hymn book from his pocket and began look-
ing for something to sing. While he was thus occupied, Elder
Dean came and stood by him. The crowd became merely a blur to
him. He thought that as a boy and even as a young man he had
been called upon to do some unpleasant duties, but none could
equal this one. What was praying in Sunday School, lecturing in
Mutual, ward teaching, or chopping wood for the ward widows,
compared with this! The young man fairly trembled as his com-
panion raised his voice in a song, in which he was expected to
join.
The men were fairly good singers, but this evening they
seemed to be out of both tune and time. People were attracted
more by the disharmony than by the music. The street was well
lighted by the lamps in the shop windows, and the missionaries
could plainly see the grin on many of the faces of their listeners.
Just before the close of the second stanza, something went wrong.
The tune come to its natural and proper end, but there were
more words to come in the song, and so there was a very bad
mix up. However, Elder Donaldson announced the purpose of
their visit on the streets of the city, and then he offered a short
prayer.
By this time quite a number of people had gathered. Elder
Donaldson spoke on the first principles of the gospel, and he was
listened to quite attentively. When he closed, he took his hat
ROMANCE OF A MISSIONARY. 21
from his companion and said to him, "All right, bear your testi-
mony."
The young man bared his head and stepped out into the circle.
At that moment a number of men stopped, and then pushed their
way to the inner circle where they stood listening. The young
missionary had not spoken many words before one of these men
shouted directly at him:
"You are a liar!"
Willard Dean was born and reared in Western. America, where
no man calls another a liar unless he stands ready to back it up by
the power of his fists, or at times with weapons more deadly. Wil-
lard Dean suddenly awoke from his frightened stupor. The words
stung him. They cleared his brain, and the muscles of his limbs
became tense.
Elder Donaldson gripped his arm tightly and said, "Go on,
pay no attention to that fellow. "
The young man tried to continue his speaking, but the man
in the crowd shouted again, "You are lying! You are 'Mormons'
from Utah, coming here to steal away our women. These men
are 'Mormons,'" he said turning and addressing himself to the
crowd.
"Yes, I am a 'Mormon,' " shouted Willard Dean, "and I am not
ashamed of it."
"You ought to be," came from a woman in another part of
the crowd.
"Let the young man talk," spoke up a third person.
"He lies, he lies," shouted the first interrupter. "I know
these 'Mormons' and their devilish ways. Beware of them, people."
Willard Dean was about to step across the short space which
separated him from his accuser, but his companion stopped him.
"Let me hit him," he pleaded, "let me hit him just once!"
"Hush, you musn't. Let me talk to the people."
But they had heard the young preacher's remark, and some of
them shouted:
"'E want's to fight. 'E's a fine preacher, e is."
Then there came a rush which nearly carried the elders off
their feet. A party of anti- "Mormons" had planned to break up
the meeting, and they were succeeding. Elder Donaldson had all
22 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
he could do to prevent his companion from entering into the thick
of the melee and "laying out" a few of them.
"Come," said the wiser one, "we must get out of this crowd."
"What! run away from these cowards? Not at all."
"'E want's to fight," someone again shouted, "poke his bloody
'ed."
There was another rush and the elders were in danger of be-
ing roughly handled. Willard Dean had thought it hard to face
a strange crowd as a preacher, but he found it still harder to re-
main cool and nonresistive when a lot of cowardly men and boys
were insulting him by both words and blows.
The elders got away and walked along the street. The
crowd had now become a mob, and spurred on by the anti- ' 'Mor-
mons," they followed the men, hooting and jeering at them and
pelting them with what street refuse they could gather.
"Do we have to stand all this?" asked Wilbrd.
"Yes; they'll not hurt us; a rotten egg makes no bruises,
and we can wash off the mud. Come on."
"But it hu^ts terribly — inside!" ,
Elder Donaldson only laughed.
"Shall we go to our lodging?" asked Willard.
"No; we will board the first car which comes. That is the
best thing to do to get away from a mob like this."
In a few minutes they jumped on a passing car. The mob did
not care to pay a penny for the pleasure of tormenting them
further, so they were safe. When they surveyed one another
they found that they had escaped easily. The few sticks and
stones had done no damage, and the mud was soon removed.
At the end of a ten minutes' ride they alighted from the car.
They stood looking at each other, and Elder Donaldson laughed
heartily.
"Is this a laughing matter?" asked Dean.
"Well, isn't it?"
'1 guess it is," replied his companion after a pause. Then
he continued:
"You usually hold two meetings each evening, don't you?"
"Yes, usually. Do you want another tonight?"
"Most certainly. I'm getting wet over. Do you think that
ROMANCE OF A MISSIONARY. 23
because those sneaking fellows back there have thrown water on me
that I shall back out and not complete the operation? Not at all.
Let's go and hold another meeting. We are at least a mile from
the mob, and they'll not disturb us, do you believe?"
"No; they will not, but others may."
"Let's try it, then. I believe I'm wet over, already."
"Well, I believe you are, too,"
They chose a corner where not so many people were passing,
and there they began another meeting. The rain cloud still hung
threateningly over the city, and now Elder Dean's wish that it would
not rain was not divided. The time was nearing nine o'clock, but
there were a good many people out, and there would be, until mid-
night.
They sang a hymn, with better success this time. Elder Don-
aldson prayed. Then Brother Dean stepped out into the small
circle that had gathered. He began quietly, as if he were explain-
ing some gospel principle to a Sunday school class in a small room.
He did not need to speak loudly to be heard. People stopped and
listened to the earnest young man, and soon there was a good-sized
company. The speaker raised his voice as the audience increased.
Such freeiom of speech had never come to Willard Dean before.
Thoughts came freely, and they were uttered in apt and easy
words. The truth of the message which he was bearing to his
fellow men came forcibly to him, and his testimony grew strong.
All fear left him now, and he felt as if he was not only master of
himself but of any situation that might arise.
Presently someone on the outskirts of the crowd made an in-
terruption.
Elder Dean paused. "Friend, do not disturb the meeting, "
he said. ' 'If you have any questions to ask, we shall be pleased
to answer them when we are through."
But this did not satisfy one man in the crowd. There came
to be considerable confusion, and Elder Donaldson suggested to
his companions that they would better close the meeting.
"No," said Elder Dean, "not yet;" and then he stepped out
into the open and nearer to the people. The young man drew
himself to his full height and stood silently looking at the crowd.
Tall he was, with broad, straight shoulders. His bushy, brown
24 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
hair showed signs of the recent scramble. His face, though
smooth and round and boyish, no# beamed with light, and a deter-
mined purpose shone from it.
The confusion continued, but there was no effort to push the
elders off. Those nearest to Willard Dean, and who stood as si-
lent as he, bad no desire to get closer.
Willard now began to feel that if he was to win, he would
have to receive strength from a higher Power than his own; and
as he stood there — it was only a few moments, but it seemed a
long time to him — he prayed for power to subdue, and to conquer.
A feeling came to him that there were some in that assembly who
were seeking after the truth. In all fairness, such ought to have
the opportunity to hear it.
Standing at one side of the crowd, and looking intently at the
young missionary, was a little elderly woman dressed in black.
She carried a basket on her arm, in which were her Saturday
evening purchases. Willard, in turning, caught sight of this
woman, and something in her face attracted him. There was a
striking resemblance in the woman's features to those of his moth-
er,— his mother in far-off Utah, who had sent him out with her
love and blessing. Then it came to him as a flash: his mother was
an Englishwoman, and she had come, when a young woman, from
this very city. The thought inspired him. He stepped up to the
little woman that had attracted him and began to speak to her.
As he did not speak loudly, those near them who were eager to
hear were compelled to listen attentively. In this way the circle of
quietness grew, until in a few minutes practically all the people
were listening to the conversation which was taking place.
"Good woman," said Willard to the figure in black, with pale
face, "you remind me of my mother — the mother that I left six
thousand miles from here to bring a glad message to you."
"Be you from 'Moimonia?' " asked she with an inquiring tone.
"I am from Utah, in America," he replied.
"You are a 'Mormon?' "
"Yes."
"Well, where the 'Mormons' live is 'Mormonia/ isn't it?"
"I never heard it called that before," said he.
ROMANCE OF A MISSIONARY. 25
Then he turned again to the listening people, and raising his
voice so that all could hear distinctly, he said:
' 'Friends, this good woman reminds me of my mother. My
mother is an Englishwoman, and came from this very town. Sonn
of the older people may know her and her parents. In her girl-
hood she worked in your mills, — very likely one of these near at
hand. Shc went to Utah many years ago, but she remembers her
native country yet, and loves it and its people. Said she to me
before I left her: 'My boy, when you get to the old country you
will find many things that are strange to you' — that's true,
friends. 'You will find that very many will not listen to you or
your message, but this you will find among all Englishmen — a love
of fair play. They may not always treat you kindly, but they will
usually treat you fairly.' Friends, I want my mother's words to
come true. My brother and I have been chased by a mob in the
streets of this city this very evening. There is no fair play about
that. I want to think that that experience is only an exception
to the general rule, and that you, gentlemen, are the Englishmen
of whom my mother spoke, whom she knew in her younger days
— Englishmen who love fair play."
By this time a good many people had stopped and were listen-
to the young man. A murmur of applause greeted his appeal to
them. As it was becoming late, the traffic of the city grew smaller,
and therefore the distracting noises fewer. The rain clouds hung
low, and already a little fine rain began to fall. However, neither
preacher nor audience seemed to pay heed to it.
Elder Dean, referring again to his mother, told them of her
experiences in emigrating to America, and of the hardships en-
dured in settling its wild western country. "What was all this
for?" he asked. "I will tell you. It was for the love of the gos-
pel of Jesus Christ, and that she might be with the people of her
own faith. Her own kindred had cast her out, because she had
followed the convictions of her heart; and so she said to her fel-
low believers, with Ruth of old: 'Intreat me not to leave thee, or
to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest I will
go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God.' So she went with them to America,
and to Utah. And she has prospered over there. She loves her
26 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
native land yet, and I, her son, feel as if you, my friends,
were part of my kin. My heart goes out towards this great
nation,where the gospel has found so many noble men and women,
and where I feel there are many yet who are looking for more of
the truth than they can find in the conflicting creeds of the
day." He spoke to them briefly of the restoration of the gospel
by angel visits to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and then closed by
bearing his testimony. The rain was falling faster now, and at
the close of Elder Donaldson's brief prayer of dismissal the people
hurriedly dispersed.
There was no chance to give out any literature in such weath-
er, so the men walked homeward in the rain, which now came
pelting down. For a while Elder Dean was so unconscious of it
that he failed to raise his umbrella.
"Elder Dean," said his companion, "it seems to me that you
are not only wet over, but wet through. Put up your umbrella."
"It was glorious," replied the other, as he did what he was
told. "And. dear brother, I (vant to keep not only wet overall
the time, but wet through and through."
(to be continued.)
Salt Lake City, Utah.
AUTUMN.
{For the Improvement Era.)
Vibrates the air with a singular thrill ;
Fairies and brownies ar^ roaming at will ;
Purling and winding, the rills run below;
Above, the sun sheds an ambient glow
O'er mountain and valley, cascade and stream;
Dallies sweet nature as if in a dream.
'Twixt summer and winter, she scarcely knows how
To adorn her proud form or garland her brow.
Lo ! she has chosen ; her robe is of brown,
With festoons of crimson and thistle-down.
Golden her crown, while emeralds are seen
Peeping forth from her tresses — beautiful queen !
Breathless we gaze; e'en the trees at her call
Tremble and flutter, and let their leaves fall
To weave her a rug of exquisite design,
To spread from the sea to the odorous pine,
Where sometimes she sits over-looking the land,
And beats back the storms with her magical wand.
Salt Lake City, Utah. Ruth M. Fox.
PRE-EXISTENCE.
BY CHARLES H. WHITE.
The world today is in darkness concerning this great principle
of divine truth. Even among those of Christian belief there is but
little known where we, as human beings, originated. The ques-
tion is often asked — Did we have an existence prior to coming to
this earth? and if so, what was the nature of the existence?
Today there is a philosophy among the religious sects which
teaches that there is within each being a substance that is immor-
tal. This substance is designated by many writers of goo'd author-
ity as spirit, and is described as the thinking, feeling, intelligent
part of man.
Most people of our day admit the fact that there is within
each being a spark that never dies, but that at the separation of
the body and the spirit, which takes place at death, the body goes
back to the dust as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave
it (Ecc. 12: 7). The passage here quoted implies that the spirit
of man had at some time previous to death (which is the result
of the separation of body and spirit) been in the presence and
association of God. Were it not so, the spirit at death could not
make its return trip to the courts of heaven, but would naturally
make his first and only voyage from the earth to the realms of
glory.
After organizing the earth upon which we live, the statement
is made by the Creator, that he had made man in his own image
(Gen. 1 : 26, 27). ' 'And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth
28 IMPR0VEMEN7 ERA.
upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image
of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Thus we have in the words of God, through Moses, an account
of the creation of man, who we are told was to have dominion
over all other things that God had created. At the completion of
the earth and all things that were to be therein, the Creator rested
from his work, and, it being the seventh day, he blessed it
and sanctified it, because in it he had finished all his work. We
read that every plant of the field and every herb of the field be-
fore it grew, and the fish of the, sea, the cattle, and every living
thing, had been created before they were placed on the earth, be-
cause at this time there was not a man on the earth to care for
the creations of God, neither had the Creator caused it to rain,
that moisture might be provided for the life and growth of the
plants (Gen. 2: 1-5).
In the creations of God, as far as we have followed them, we
find the spiritual and not the temporal creation. It is plain that
all things were created spiritually before they were created tempo-
rally (Moses 3: 5). At this time God caused a mist to go up from
the earth, and the whole face of the ground was watered; and the
Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life — or, in other words, the spirit which
had been previously created enterc d the body made from the
dust of the earth — and man became a living soul.
A garden was planted in Eden, in which God caused to grow
the tree, and all that was pleasant in the sight of man (Gen. 2:
6-9).
It is plain from the above quotations that all things had a
spiritual creation, and dwelt with God even before he brought this
earth into existence.
During our associations with God in the spirit world, and at
a time when the creation of this earth was under contemplation,
we gave our sanction, and, as the sons and daughters of God,
shouted for joy at the thought of coming to the earth to taber-
nacle in the flesh (Job 38: 4-7).
Jesus, our Lord, in speaking to his apostles, upon one occa-
sion, taught them the philosophy of this great truth. "I came
forth from the Father into the world, again I leave the world and
PRE-EXISTENCE. 29
go back to my Father" (John 1: 28). We would infer from this
scripture that our Savior had, at some time previous to his earthly
career, been with the Father. It might be thought bj some that it
was the body of Jesus as he appeared on the earth, that had an ex-
istence with the Father before the world was, but let us see. Jesus,
we are told, was born of the Virgin Mary, being brought into the
world of woman, as all other children are; then, it is plain that
the flesh had not been with the Father, but, on the other hand it
was the spirit which was chosen before the foundation of the
world, to come and take possession of that body which should be
born of Mary; and, as the angel said to the mother of Jesus, he
shall be called the Son of God, and it will be he who will offer his
life for the sins of the world.
Again, in the prayer to his Father, he asks that he might be
glorified with his Father, even with the glory I had with thee be-
fore the world was (John 17: 5).
The spirit of Jesus existed and had glory with his Father be-
fore, the foundations of the earth were laid; in fact, he took part
in the great work of creation.
We will here introduce one or two witnesses from the Book
of Mormon as touching the pre- existence of Jesus Christ. Nephi,
a prophet of the western hemisphere, who lived about five hun-
dred years B. C, testified that he had beheld the Redeemer (II
Nephi 2: 2, 3). He also makes the statement that his brother
Jacob had also seen him, and that he was the one of whom Isaiah
prophesied hundreds of years before his birth.
While the brother of Jared was on the mount receiving in-
structions concerning their journey to the promised land, the Re-
deemer appeared to him and conversed at some length upon his
earthly mission, and, owing to the greatness of his faith, the Savior
appeared to him in the same likeness as he would appear on the
earth (Ether 3: 6-20).
It will be seen from the above that Jesus had an existence
prior to his advent into this world, and that after his mission on
earth was finished, he ascended into heaven, in the presence of his
disciples, and resumed the enjoyment of that glory which he pos-
sessed before the worlds were created.
The Lord in speaking with Jeremiah makes him acquainted
30 IMPRO VEMEN T ERA.
with the fact that he was ordained to be a prophet unto the
nations befor his birth into the world (Jer. i: 5). The possibility
of such a thing is more or less troubling the minds of a great
many people. By way of explanation, I could do no better than to
refer the reader to the Pearl of Great Price (Abraham 3: 22-28),
where the Lord, in speaking with Abraham, makes mention of the
spirits that stood before him, and expressed the fact that there
were some among them that were noble and great, and of these
he would make his prophets and rulers among his children during
their probation on the earth. At this time Jeremiah, no doubt,
received his ordination to be a prophet to the nations of the
earth.
In the spirit world, the same as on this earth, men are
governed by law, and as a result there were some among them
who advanced to higher stations than did those of their fellow spir-
its. Some, by applying themselves to conditions and making use
of the opportunities as they presented themselves, reached a higher
mark of perfection than those who were less ambitious.
We may, by way of illustration, take the earth upon which
we live. All men are born into the world equal as far as wealth
is concerned. Some men apply themselves to the conditions that
surround them, and by close attention to business succeed in
amassing great fortunes. On the other hand, there are those
who do not apply themselves, and fail to take advantage of oppor-
tunities. These are the men who make no progress, and conse-
quently die poor. The same may be said of a people in a religious
way. Many persons there are who apply" the gospel of Christ
to their lives, and by close observance of the commandments of
God they gain as a reward a crown of glory in the kingdom of
heaven. Again, we have a class of people who care nothing for the
laws of God, neither do they feel the need of obeying his gospel,
and as a result of this kind of life they can expect to be rewarded
only for the work done, and can never obtain the degree of glory
that he who is faithful has received.
Free agency was enjoyed in the spirit world, and there, the
same as here, men could choose good or evil. This is made plain in
the Revelations of John while on the isle of Patmos. The visions of
the past were opened to his view, and he was privileged to behold
PRE-EXISTENCE. 31
the great war that was fought between Michael and his angels,
and the dragon and his angels. Satan, through his great ability
as a leader, was successful in obtaining a third part of the spirits
of men as his followers (Rev. 12: 7-9). This war, we believe, took
place at a time when the great plan of redemption was being dis-
cussed, and as a result of disobedience, and not wishing to extend
to man the great principle of free agency, Lucifer and his angels
were cast out of heaven, and were deprived of coming to earth and
taking a body of flesh and bones.
Sin was within the reach of all, and consequently spirits had
power to commit sin, even as men do today, In proof of this, let
me refer you to the writings of John (chapter 9: 1-3). While in
course of their travels in the land of Judea, they met a man who
was blind. The apostles, understanding our pre-existent st^te^
asked Jesus this question: Who did sin, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?" Now bear in mind this fact, that the
man came into the world blind, and consequently it could not have
been a punishment for sin committed in this life. Had the wrong
which brought blindness to him been the result of his disobedience,
it would have been perpetrated in the spirit world during the as-
sociation with his fellow spirits, as they dwelt with God during a
probation in which they existed before the worlds were created.
As a reward for our faithfulness in our pre-existent home, we
have the privilege of coming to earth and possessing a body of
flesh and bone; or, it may be expressed in the following terms:
having kept our first estate, we are now upon the earth to see
whether or not we will keep our second estate. Through proper
care and preparation of our bodies, which comes by obedience to
the laws of heaven, we fit ourselves for a crown of celestial glory,
and we shall dwell with God and his Son, Jesus Christ, throughout
the vast eternities.
Kansas City, Mo.
A LINK OF LIFE.
BY PROF. WILLARD DONE.
[In the year 1870, a mound in a field, near Payson, Utah, was excavated by
Amasa Potter, an intelligent farmer residing then and now in that town. He
found two skeletons, some implements and pottery, and a stone box. In the box
were a few grains of wheat. Those that were bright he planted, and raised a few
heads of the wheat. He planted this seed the following season, and raised about
a bushel and a half. This was distributed among a few of the farmers, some of it
beiDg sent to the Department of Agriculture at Washington, together with the
relics which were purchased for the Bureau of Ethnology. The wheat was found
to be far superior as dry-land wheat to other varieties, producing, according to
the statements of those who experimented with it, about eight bushels to the acre
more than any other.
In August of this year, grain raised from this seed in a large field of dry
land, near Nephi, was cut and threshed with the first combined harvester and
thresher ever used in Utah. These facts led the author, who was a boy in Payson
at the time the mound was opened, to write the following prose-poem. — Editors.]
Once in the dim, long-distant past, there lived among the ab-
origines, among the Rocky Mountains, a man far-seeing, wiser than
his fellows. A prophet of the future was he, and best of all, a
provider for it. At his hands there were no better means than at
his neighbor's. With the same rude plow they cultivated their
fields; in the same way sowed them; with the same brushes they
harrowed in the seed; the same rain from heaven nourished all
their crops; the same sun ripened them. With the same primitive
sickles they garnered their harvest; with the same flails beat the
grain from the chaff; with the same stone mills turned it into
meal.
But this man had that power within him which made him a
leader of men. If his lines were cast in the primitive age, his
mind was fitted for an era more advanced. Like a Burbank he
A LINK OF LIFE. 33
tested, selected, experimented, cultivated, cross-fertilised, and
proved the plants, until he found produced— call it what you will
— the seed best suited to the arid soil and the waterless waste.
The prophet of the future was building for the future.
At length his work was done. There had come from his hand,
in this respect typical of the creative power of Omnipotence, a
seed the perfection of its kind; adapted to the drouth; resistant to
the parching sun and the baked earth; vital with the few light
showers of spring; and bounteous beyond the dreams of fertility.
And the fields waved with the grain; the harvest moon shone
brighter; the songs of harvest-home were gladder; their autumn
thanksgiving was more fervent, for the prophetic, philanthropic
work of this their brother.
Where heretofore but dusty deserts stretched, lay fields of
golden grain. Where wild beasts and savage men had roamed,
sleek cattle browsed on the rich stubble. Where God's great gift
to man, the wide-stretched field, had lain in sullen barrenness,
seed-time and harvest filled the ear of God with their rejoicing.
This the prophet-creator lived to see accomplished. But who will
say that he did not look far into the future and see still greater
things rise from his handiwork?
*******
At length the people's benefactor died. With mingled lauda-
tions and lamentings, sorrow and praise, they prepared him for
his long home. They anointed the dead limbs with choicest oint-
ments, and wrapped him in a costly shroud. They prepared for
him the richest sepulture, and chose for his last resting-place the
choicest spot in the fields he had made more fertile. Here they
heaped for him a mound, and placed within its bosom the mortal
coil of their great benefactor. In harmony with their burial
customs, they placed at his side the loved companion of his youth,
and the implements of labor he had known and used. The stone
mill, the earthen vessels, the stone ax, the rude weapons, and the
other insignia of the time and place were laid to rest with him.
But even this was not sufficient remembrance for him they so
much honored. What could they make his monument? A stone
might be raised to him, but that would crumble into formless dust.
A parchment might by written, but that would fade away. What-
34 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
ever lifeless thing they might erect to his memory would pass into
nothingness. They must give him a remembrance as immortal as
the fame it should perpetuate. Like that fame, it must be living
and everlasting.
In the midst of their counsels there arose a patriarch of their
people, and they listened to his words with the respect due to age
and wisdom: "You seek a memento of him who has done so much.
What better can you do than to make his own work his monument?
What we could build for him would not perpetuate his fame. He
has made his own memento. It bears within itself the germ of
immortal life. It will live and flourish long after lifeless memori-
als have passed away. Let the monument he himself has built be
our memorial to him."
With a great shout of approbation they heard his words. A
stone was brought, and from it a box was fashioned. Within this
box was placed a handful of the grain his genius had evolved. The
cover was fitted and sealed. And this, the ever-living memento of
his greatness and his worth, was placed in the sepulchre beside
him, and the last sad rites were finished.
*******
liong ages passed away. For centuries of years, seed-time
and harvest, toil and rejoicing, joy and sorrow, had passed in
alternation. Generation succeeded generation; and the land was
populous, the fields were rich, the harvests bounteous.
Then came internecine strife and civil wars. The land, erst-
while rich with man and his handiwork, and teeming with waving
fields, was drenched with blood. And because man's precious life
was spilled upon it, the curse of God was there. No longer did
it respond to the plowman and the sower; and the reaper went un-
rewarded. From industry to idleness; from idleness to poverty;
from poverty to wretchedness; from wretchedness to savagery, the
once happy people descended.
At length the land was desolate; the people scattered; the
fields deserted. Back to its primitive barrenness the wide-stretched
plain reverted; and the sentinel mountains kept weary watch over
desolate valleys. The savage, the wild beast, and the gray, life-
less shrub possessed the scene alone.
A LINK OF LIFE. 35
Then came another prophet-builder. Wearied with his epoch-
making march, he gazed from the mountain-side upon the valley,
despised for ages by the seeming- wise, and said, "It is enough;
this is the place!" With patient toil and broad fore-sightedness
this leader poured water on the lifeless soil, and brought back the
old fertility; and the land was rich with harvests. The curse of
God was expiated by the diligence of man.
A happy people spread over the land. Valleys long abandoned
to the wasting drouth were conquered and subdued- Smiling vil-
lages gladdened the land, made rich with harvest. Back to their
lair slunk wild beast and savage man. The smile of God brightened
plain and mountain, he saw the land; "and it was good."
One day a mound, rising majestic in the open plain, was
leveled. Within a chamber were found two skeletons, rude imple-
ments, stone weapons, crude relics of a time long past, a stone box
cemented. Carefully the box was opened. Amid grains long
since crumbled into dust, a few shone bright and fresh as when
garnered in that distant harvest. They were planted and tenderly
nurtured. With jealous eye the first green shoots were watched.
They grew and ripened. And now there came to the hand of the
thoughtful husbandman, the product of the hand and brain of the
prophet-provider, long since turned to dust. His living monument
had been erected — a monument destined to be eternal. The fruit
of a time long past was to be the seed of the future.
Science now came to the aid of genius, and both worked side
by side. Where the rude plow had skimmed the surface of narrow
roods, the mighty engine born of man's brain turned the deep loam
of broad acres. Where the sower had plodded with his pouch of
seed, followed by the obliterating brush, the seeder placed its myriad
grains in the mellow soil. Where sickle and flail by slow and weary
effort took stalk from stubble, and grain from chaff, great engines
swept the field, the wavug grain before, the bursting bags behind,
ready for the whirring rollers. Where heretofore the harvest had
meant the compass of an arrow's flight, it now was boundless as
the sea. In his brightest vision the prophet- builder could not have
foreseen transition so wonderful.
And thus the past joins with the future. The seed planted
by the aboriginal genius decks with multiplied fertility the modern
36 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
field. From seed-time to the milling of the harvest, the grain of
the past is touched with instruments produced by man's present
genius. And where past races of men reaped with infinite toil the
meagre harvest of a narrow field, present generations gather, as
by the touch of magic, the bounteous product of the limitless
plain. 0 prophet-builder of the distant past, your voice of proph-
ecy, sounding through the ages, has found its echo; and your ec-
static vision is our reality!
Salt Lake City, Utah.
WATCH O'ER ME.
(Written to the music of Sing Me to Sleep, for Prof. Charles Kent, and sung
hy the author at the M. I. A. convention of Fremont stake, September 29, 1907).
0 God, in mercy hear my prayer;
Give me tonight thy wondrous care;
Wrap me around with thy dear love,
And send me solace from above;
Scatter the clouds that make me fear,
Lest I forget that thou art near,
And in my weakness go astray
From thine allwi?e and holy way.
Refrain.
0 Holy Father, hear thou my prayer,
1 need thy comfort, thy love and care ;
All life is danger without thee ;
0 God in heaven, watch o'er me.
All through the day my steps have failed,
And I was weak when sin assailed ;
Forgive the follv and the pride,
Teach me to cling to virtue's side;
Grant me thy peace that I may know
Thou still art near, the way to show,
And in the end, ah let me be
Encrowned for all eternity.
Harold Goff.
Rexburg, Idaho.
THE WITHDRAWAL.
BY KATE THOMAS.
She came from the land where the pine abounds, and the
winter clouds hang purple over the misty fjords. And she was
named Christine, perhaps to always remind her of her own Chris-
tiania. Her face was refined; her hands tapering and filbert-
nailed. In the old country she had been my lady's maid. In the
new, she was the "girl"' of general housework. In a year she
could write English a little, could read better than she could speak,
and she spoke remarkably well.
"I had a hard time to get here," she confided to us. "My
lady, she felt most badly. She cried. I did not want to be a
'Mor-mon,' but I could not help it. I knew another girl in Chris-
tiania. She said, I will go to a 'Mor-mon' meeting. I laughed
and said, 'I will go, too. I may get a husband. ' She said, 'you
do not know what you talk about, 'Mormons' do not look for wo-
men. They have plenty at home.' I am here, now I know. I
laughed and said, 'I will go, too, and get a husband.' I think I
will make a noise and break up such a bad meeting. But
I went many times, and I did not laugh. I took the Book of Mor-
mon home. I did not let my lady know. One night she came to
my room. She seldom came to my room. I was scared. I put
the Book of Mor-mon behind my back. She said, 'What are you
reading, Christine?' I showed her. She said, 'I am told you go
to 'Mor-mon' meetings, Christine.' I said, 'yes.' She said, 'You
will not be a 'Mormon, 'Christine?' I did not think to be 'Mor-mon,'
until then. I surprised myself. I said, yes.' She cried, and said,
'Do not be a 'Mor-mon.' I will pay you more money.' I said, 'But
I will join the 'Mor-mons.' ' She said, 'If so, you cannot work for
38 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
me. ' I said, 'I cannot work for you, because I am going to Utah. '
My mother said, 'You shall not go.' They watched me, and would
not let me go to meeting. I took my clothes and ran away. My
mother, nor any one would speak to me after."
Six months later, beaming-eyed, she made the startling an-
nouncement:
"This foolish fellow will come sure with the next company."
Enquiry drew out the fact that the plainly acceptable foolish
fellow was a Norwegian sweetheart whom she was emigrating.
We looked forward to his coming with almost as great an
excitement as the girl herself had. The rather prepossessing
Scandinavian lass had in eighteen months of American ways and
style of dress become a decidedly attractive young creature, with
ideas far beyond her station. And we wondered.
On the great day, five of her friends, three serving maids and
two men, all in varying styles of anxiety, called to accompany
Christine to the train. They escorted her home again, and al-
though it was then near midnight, sat in the kitchen for a full
half hour.
"Well, Christine," we asked when they had gone, "did he
come?"
"Yes," she answered. "Haven't you gone to bed yet,
ma'am?" It was late to Christine, in spite of love's young dream.
She turned the tap in the sink and watched the water run down
the hole. Then she said, "He is funny."
Christine's "funny" meant an extreme type. We felt sorry
for her.
Sundays and Wednesdays she met him somewhere. She would
not allow him to come to the house. After the fifth visit she was
wholly disillusioned.
"He will never be anything," she said disconsolately. "He
should have stayed in Norway. "
A week later she said, "I don't know what to do. I do not
like this fellow."
"It is a pity you imported him," we said facetiously.
"What's this— import?"
"Sent for him."
THE WITHDRAWAL. 39
"Yes," she assented, the humor lost upon her. "I'd rather
have the money."
She worried for two weeks longer. Then she reached the
decisive point.
"I will write dis fellow that it is all wrong. He is a good
'Mor-mon.' He will find another girl."
Christine's faith that a good 'Mormon' could always find con-
solation in any woman was somewhat comical, but it was neverthe-
less deep and abiding. If he were married he was eventually saved.
And with Betsey in his crown of glory, what did he need of Chris-
tine? She frankly preferred to adorn some other man's circlet.
So she wrote the letter telling him so, and posted it the same af-
ternoon.
The next morning brought a letter from him. Christine's
eyes grew round as she took it. On reading it, she broke into
tears.
"It is so funny," she sobbed. "I do not understand."
The letter, she explained, was about word for word the same
as she had written to him. It must have been written at the same
time, and he was no doubt reading hers now. The somewhat start-
ling coincidence proved beyond a doubt that these two young peo-
ple were not specially designed for each other.
Shocked at her red eyes, "You are not sorry, Christine," was
asked.
"No, no!" she protested vehemently. "I am glad. It is so
funny, that's all. I am so glad I sent this letter yesterday. He
knows now that I wrote first."
She saw him once more and brought us the following news:
"He says he loves me but will marry this rich widow. She
has four grown up girls. She is older than he, and not nice. She
is ugly and — what you call com-mon? She is from the old coun-
try, too. She can have him. ■ He is not worth anything, this fel.
low, nothing at all!"
"Will he pay back the money he borrowed from yon, now,
Christine?"
"No. He is not that kind, this fellow. He will keep the
money. I don't care. I am glad to be rid of him. He is not a
good 'Mormon.' I will not marry one who is not a good 'Mor-mon.'
40 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
Christine had been with us two years when a Gentile lady
offered her a position as a cook at a larger wage than we were
paying her. Christine was honorable.
"You took me when I could not speak English," she said.
u'You have learned me — "
"Taught, Christine," I corrected.
"Taught me many things. I am more of a lady now. I shall
stay with you, if you say so."
We disliked to lose her, for good housemaids are scarce. But
we could not accept her offer.
She came on her first evening off to tell us how she liked her
new place. The work was continuous, and she did not get out
much. The dinner hour prevented her from going to meeting.
As time went on, she became more friendly with the other
servants. She wore finer clothes. Her old associates gradually
dropped her.
She came down one evening, looking pale and rather unhappy.
"I wish you did not have a good girl," she said wistfully. "I
should like to come back again. I never see a 'Mor-mon' any more.
Nobody comes to see me. The girls I work with are not what I
like to be with. I am lonely in that house up there."
For a time she spent her free evenings in our kitchen with
her successor. But daily association was toe strong. She became
more and more friendly with her fellow maids. Several times we
met her walking with a tall man of more than ordinary appear-
ance. We teased her about him when we saw her next She told
us that he was her countryman, an architect, well-to-do, and that
his attentions were serious.
"A 'Mormon,' of course?"
"No, he is not a 'Mormon.' He is nothing at all. He be-
lieves not even God."
"Yet you are going to marry him, Christine?"
"I don't know." Then she added, flushing slowly, 'Tm not a
good 'Mor-mon' like I used to be. "
"After all you went through in the beginning?"
"Yes. Is this not strange? In Norway I would die for that
religion. Here it is not so good. People are not so good. Noth-
ing so good. I think this queer."
THE WITHDRAWAL. 41
"You had better^go to meeting sometimes, Christine. "
"I don't like meetings any more. I think I will not marry
this man."
However, the next time she came it was to tell of her engage-
ment.
"He makes good money," she said. "We will go back to the
old country after a while. This little American money he has
saved will make him more a somebody. I will be more a some-
body."
And so she went back to the country she had fled from under
so devout a religious love, the wife of an inf del.
A missionary brought us news of her. She was in a cozy
home on the finest street of one of the smaller towns. She was
mistress herself, now, and the little blo-.de maid who did her bid-
ding thought her a fine lady. But in spite of all, she was not
happy.
"I thought," she told him, "that when I was married 1 would
be lonely no more. But I am worse and worse lonely. My-husband
laughs, if I pray. He will not speak to a 'Mormon.' You must
go before he comes. No 'Mormon' must come again. And all the
time I want to be a 'Mormon!' I think how I left this country —
so hard to leave — for that religion. Oh, those fine Utah moun-
tains! And those good people! I will never see the Utah moun-
tains again! I'm not strong enough, brother, that's all. I think
everybody leaves me, and do not care for me. And I love this
man for that. I was more weak there than I am here for that re-
ligion. I'm sorry now. But I brought this on myself. I'll do my
best by this man. "
And so, far away. Christine looks out from the little home,
where she is "more somebody," over the wide Norwegian hills,
and longs for her own people, and the unwavering majesty of the
heavy- browed mountains of Utah.
New York, N. Y.
THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN IN THE HOME.
BY ALICE PEET BISHOP.
TIRED MOTHERS.
A little elbow leans upon your knee,
Your tired knee that has so much to bear ;
A child's dear eyes are looking lovingly
From underneath a thatch of tangled hair.
Perhaps you do not heed the velvet touch,
Or warm, moist fingers, folding yours so tight;
You do not prize this blessing overmuch —
You almost are too tired to pray tonight.
But it is blessedness! A year ago
I did not see it as I do today —
We are so dull and thankless; and too slow
To catch the sunshine till it slips away.
And now it seems surpassing strange to me,
That while I wore the badge of motherhood,
I did not kiss more oft and tenderly
The little child that brought me only good.
And if, some night when you sit down to rest,
You miss this elbow from your tired knee —
This restless, curling head from off your breast—
This lisping tongue that chatters constantly;
If from your own the dimpled hands had slipped,
And ne'er would nestle in your palm again;
If the white feet into their grave had tripped,
I could not blame you for your heartache then.
I wonder so that mothers ever fret
At little children clinging to their gown;
THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN IN THE HOME. 43
Or that their footprints, when the days are wet,
Are ever black enough to make them frown.
If I could find a little muddy boot,
Or cap, or jacket, on my chamber floor —
If I could kiss a rosy, restless foot,
And hear it patter in my house once more —
If I could mend a broken cart today,
Tomorrow make a kite to reach the sky,
There is no woman in God's world could say
She was more blissfully content than I.
But ah! the dainty pillow next my own
Is never rumpled by a shining head;
My singing birdling from its nest is flown —
The little boy I used to kiss is dead!
Mary Louise Riley Smith.
The loneliness of this mother touches every maternal heart;
and yet, not long ago, I stood with a mother, widowed at the
birth of her second child and son, by the grave of one God had
taken in childhood, and heard her say, "It seemed so hard to part
with him when we laid him here, but I rejoice now, for I know
where this one is. God knew my weakness, and took him away
from my misguided training, and I am thankful."
The living son, now twenty-five years of age, is a very hand-
some man in face, figure and carriage, but the beauty stops there;
drinking, gambling, carousing with his own kind, sporting and
eating, are the only things worth living for, judging from his
life.
"What was the matter with his training?" you ask.
"Want of study on the subject, 'The training of children in
the home,' " is my answer.
In the whole round of good women that I know, there is not
one who is kinder, or leads a nobler life, — a life of sacrifice for
others; and in this spirit of making others happy, indulged in the
wrong way, without studying her child as she did her cook-book,
lay the mischief which made her beloved son a leprous blotch to
his family and community.
"I felt, " she said, "when my boy was growing up that I
wanted him to know that I loved him, and I gave him everything
that I possibly could for his pleasure."
44 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
Right there was the trouble. She served him, instead of
training him to serve her. When he took his bath, she brought
the tub, and the water, and the clean clothes — when he had fin-
ished, he left all for her to remove. Breakfast was kept waiting
for him, till he chose to arise — dinner and supper until he was
ready to come; and there was never a reprimand, so that he might
know his mother loved him.
The mother or wife has no right, human or divine, to wear
herself out. True, her life must be one of sacrifice, but she should
aim to be looked up to as a queen in "the realm called home,'' and
not down upon by the husband and children: as a "household
drudge and slave."
How many, many times has my heart been saddened by hear-
ing misguided mothers say, ''Oh, my daughter cannot help at all;
she is going to school."
Mothers, if you have to work either constantly or temporarily,
your child should give you substantial aid. With like ability, the
pupil who works faithfully three hours each day at home, gets
along faster, digests acquired knowledge better, is healthier and
much better developed all around than the one whose mother un-
wisely excuses him or her, from all duties.
I have in mind the history of a boy whom I saw several times
a day during his college preparatory life. This boy was kept so
busy with horse and cow and lawn and housework, and keeping up
the furnace fires at home, and in school and college work, that
his mother remarked, "it is not miraculous that Will is not wild.
We kept him so busy he never found time to learn to be bad."
Will's parents, though wealthy, were far beyond average men
and women in boy training wisdom. This, their only child, was
the dearest object on earth to them, and they reasoned that if
he did his part of the world's work when he reached manhood, he
muse do what his years and strength would allow as he went
along, and be taught to feel that "Labor, all labor is noble and
holy." At the age of fifteen he had finished the high school course.
At nineteen he graduated with honor from his home college, which
matriculates with Harvard University. He entered Harvaid in
1898, with A. B. to his name, and at the end of two years that
great school added A.M. to his titles. His record for perseverance,
THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN IN THE HOME. 45
scholarship and honor, easily won for him the position of teacher
of Latin and Greek in the St. Paul and Minneapolis public schools,
where he taught very acceptably for two years, and then secured
one of the best situations in .the Kansas City, Mo., schools. Mind
and body always kept pace, for while he was working the one, the
other was resting, and at the age of twenty-seven, his healthy
mind in his healthy body gave him a relish for life and its duties,
which made living and service joyous.
The mother of President Roosevelt saw to it that every day
her boys should complete some piece of work, and the life of our
chief executive and the marvelous amount and diversity of work
he is able to accomplish, shows that the time devoted to her
heart's dearest treasures, paid that mother well.
Mothers, be wise and consider that all a boy or girl learns
from his or her books, while you are overworking to give your child
that time, is more than lost in the selfishness that they learn in
feeling that anything can justify them in letting you thus over-
work.
She could swing a six-pound dumb-bell,
She could fence, and she could box;
She could row upon the river,
She could clamber 'mong the rocks;
She could do some heavy golfing,
And play tennis all day long;
But she couldn't help her mother,
'Cause she wasn't very strong.
"Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do," and again,
"An idle brain is the devil's workshop," are as true today as they
ever were, and the reverse is also true, "Jesus finds some service
still for busy hands do do;" and again, "A brain busy under a
Christian mother's training, is Christ's workshop."
There is another error into which manv good mothers drift,
that of nagging. Watch that. Set aside your children's part of
the work, and see that it is done properly, if it has to be done sev-
eral times, but all with a kind patience through which they can see
it is for their good.
Honesty in the home is of the greatest importance. "Buy
the truth and sell it not," said Holy Writ; and if we, as teachers,
46 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
mothers and members of society, could estimate the change for
the better in strictly following the teachings of these seven words,
we would be amazed.
A child's eyes are quick to understand the subterfuge you
think is all a mystery to him. "It's good medicine, "It won't hurt
to have your tooth pulled," "The bad man will catch you," are no
less falsehoods for a mother than the wrong stories for which she
punishes her child. Then the social quibbles. I do not me'ar that
we should be painfully plain in speech, but one can cultivate a
habit of not speaking at all, when the truth would be unkind.
An old Quaker reproved his hired man exaggerating, telling
him it was a sin. "And do you never sin in the same way?" asked
the man. "Thee must watch me, and if I do, thee must tell me."
"I lived in that family seven years," said the man, and
learned to know that dependence could be placed upon every
statement the old Quaker made— and I loved him as a father."
Be sure your child is human, just as much as your neighbor's
child, therefore watch him closely, ' 'for you know not the day
nor the hour when he may enter into and yield to temptation."
One of the saddest things a teacher must contend with, is
when she knows a pupil is doing wrong, and the mother believes
the child's skilfully constructed story, and thinks the teacher is
guided by prejudice, or that some guilty member of the school is
trying to shirk his sins upon other shoulders. If the teacher is con-
scientious, she sifts the matter to the bottom before approaching
the mother.
One mother whom I knew always took time to read some
tender, suggestive story to her four children just at their bed
time, and it became in that home, an hour for self-examination.
The little ones were eager to tell mama of any good or helpful act,
and very often she would hear contrite confessions of their yield-
ing to the temptation to do wrong. When they were ten and
twelve years old they would cry as if their hearts would break
over some selfish, mean or cowardly act of the day. They could
not sleep until they had made a clean breast of it to mama. I do
not need to tell you that this was never a scolding time — nor that
these talks urged the mother to live a perfectly consistent life —
a life so few, so very few of us, live.
THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN IN THE HOME. 47
This subject is inexhaustible, but I cannot leave it without
urging mothers to read books on the training of children. I be-
lieve most firmly that if women would study the books on child
culture as assiduously as they do cook books or the Delineator —
their eyes would be opened to the many errors in training children,
and the results would be marvelous. A child is God's best gift to
man, and you love it more than your own self — and yet that child
goes to bed hungry for the companionship that you are lavishing
on the company in the parlor.
Your library? On the shelves do we see well read books on
child training? Do you read Abbott, or Pestalozzi, or Froebel,
because you love your child and want to learn how to train it?
A bee-keeper reads books on bees, a swine breeder on swine,
a horseman on horses, a butter maker on dairying, but how many
parents have invested ten dollars in books on child culture ?
A few Sundays ago I saw an eleven-year-old boy, an only
child, on the public streets in bad company.
The mother is a good woman, and, no doubt, thinks the wel-
fare of her boy is enhanced by her labors for society, and her
hold on the social life of her town; but I would take chances on
the four boys of the woman, who, while burdened with all her
housework, set aside every evening and every Sunday afternoon
for her children.
In Frances Willard and her brother and sister, we have ex-
amples of what parental training in the woods of Wisconsin could
do.
I do not cry down society; the mingling of ourselves together
is an express command of scripture, and our children must have
companionship when they live within reach of it, and wise is that
mother who gives her first and best companionship to these chil-
dren whom God has called upon her to train.
Let the children come first. "Better a dinner of herbs where
love is than a stalled ox and contention therewith."
In conclusion, I feel compelled to say to mothers that, like the
good woman mentioned in the beginning of this paper, you can,
by indulgence, become the worst enemy your child can have.
This statement is proved by the fact that nearly all the boys and
girls who go widely astray were brought up by their own mothers;
43 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
and that a very large proportion of our criminals have living
mothers, who, in their great love for their children, weakly in-
dulged them in all they demanded, until the tyrant of selfish appe-
tites held them so strongly in its grasp that they were unable to
resist evil promptings.
The mother of the great Spurgeon said, "If Charles goes
astray it will have to be over his mother's prayers," and from the
results, we may know that the prayers, accompanied by works, were
constant.
In an exchange the other day, something like this appeared:
She was not an educated woman. She was not in society. She did not wear
fashionable clothes, but she brought up three daughters to tell the truth. When
she died she was not laid out in purple and fine linen. There were no hired car-
riages, and the flowers were all from the gardens of her friends. There was no
long funeral procession, and the write-up of her life in the home papers was not
extensive, but in heaven, One whose face shone with the brightness of the
Father's glory said, "A queen is coming. Get her throne ready."
Salt Lake City, Utah.
THE COURTSHIP OF AUTUMN.
(For the Improvement Era.)
Flower-like, over the golden sheen,
Like an Indian girl, came the Autumn queen.
The fiery trail of her flaming hair
Went streaming away through the hazy air.
And the skies took fire, and the sunburnt land:
And the oak tree blushed as he kissed her hand.
Her flushed cheek shone like a red sunbeam
In the crystal depths of the gilded stream.
The lake o'erspread with a crimson grace,
As her footstep fell on his dimp'ling face.
On the western wall of the sky out-spread,
She painted a sunset scene blood- red.
THE COURTSHIP OF AUTUMN. 49
Then over the ocean world she came,
And her feet of fire left a trail of flame.
And the snow-capped peaks and the sun-lit bower
All burst into bloom like a spring- kissed flower.
With the rushing sound of a thousand rills,
A foot- step fell on the northern hills.
And a misty form with a countenance weird,
On the cloudy edge of the world appeared.
His cane was an icicle stout and sleek,
His coat was a snow cloud long and thick.
That hung from his chin to his snowdrift feet,
And he buttoned it tight to exclude the heat.
His frosty hair and his beard of snow
Streamed over the hills when the wind would blow.
His breath was the wind, and his voice was storm;
But his heart of ice, in a world so warm,
Seemed melting away to the blushing dame
Who lighted his path with a world of flame.
He called to her from the wildest peak
Of the Wasatch Range, aloft and bleak.
She answered back from the canyon stream,
And sent him a kiss on a ruddy beam.
The blush of love on her face upturned,
She beckoned to him, and his great heart yearned.
He' rose to go; at his icy look,
The streams retired and the forest shook.
The white frost clung to his wrinkled brow,
The red leaf dropt from the shiv'ring bough.
And he fixed his glance on her dainty form,
And circled her round with an icy arm.
She gave him her world like a gem aglow,
And faded away on his breast of snow.
THE COURTSHIP OF AUTUMN. 51
Then over the bleak and leaf-hid trail,
With many a sigh, and many a wail,
He carried her into the forest drear,
All wrapped in her glory, withered and sere.
With the dirge of the wind in the bending bough,
He piessed a kiss on her pale, cold brow.
And he took her close to his heart of woe,
Then buried her under a drift of snow.
Theo. E. Curtis.
Salt Lake City, Utah.
ECHO OF THE AGES.
An echo rolls down through the ages,
In cadence divinely sweet,
And unto the soul that shall hearken,
'Twill be as a light to the feet.
For heartstrings that vibrate with anguish.
It bringeth a healing balm;
With power rebuketh life's tempest,
And giveth a heavenly calm.
Oh! blest be the echo of ages,
That leadeth mankind above,
Purging his thought of world-grossness,
Ever inspiring with love!
But ah! of earth's millions how many
Are striving this echo to hear?
Their ears have grown deaf to its pleadings,
They hold it no longer dear.
They hear but one dissonant clamor,
The shout of the world's great fold;
The echo which blesses the ages,
Is drowned in the cry for gold.
Grace Ingles Frost.
Salt Lake City, Utah.
"MOTHER AND SISTER MIGHT HEAR."
BY PROF. ALBERT M. MERRILL, OF THE CASSIA STAKE ACADEMY.
The Junior boys will, doubtlessly, draw many profitable lessons
this year from the reading of Tom Brown's School Days.
Tom is not represented as an ideal boy, nor as one of the
' 'goody-goody" kind. He is just an ordinary boy, full of life and
energy; he has plenty of faults, but these are fairly offset by good
strong points. He is so perfectly natural, so resourceful, so viva-
cious, and yet so kind-hearted, so generous, and true, that all -boys
must, perforce, admire him.
One of the satisfying things about his biography is that the
training and circumstances of his early years bear fruit throughout
his life. Like most boys, he could not forget the tender religious
training of a loving mother, nor yet the occasional but pointed in-
structions of the father. We feel sure that his father's last words
of admonition when he left London, at the tender age of nine
years, to enter Rugby, not only rang in his ears in the stage coach
that morning, but that they recurred to him on many trying oc-
casions afterward. They are words that can well afford to be
printed in gold and held before the eyes of Latter-day Saint boys,
or better still, engraved in their hearts where they may act as
silent monitors in hours of need.
After considering well and long what he could best say in
parting, Mr. Brown gave utterance to the following:
Tom, my boy, remember you are going at your own earnest request, to be
chucked into this great school, like a young bear with all your troubles before you
— earlier than we should have sent you, perhaps. If schools are what they were
in my time, you'll see a great many cruel blackguard things done, and hear a deal
of foul, bad talk. But never fear. You tell the truth, keep a brave and kind
"MOTHER AND SISTER MIGHT HEAR." 53
heart, and never listen to or say anything you wouldn't have your mother and
sister hear, and you'll never feel ashamed to come home, or we to see you.
What splendid counsel this, for every boy to receive and live
by. It constitutes a little religion all by itself, "pure and un-
dented:" Tell the truth, keep a brave and kind heart, and never
hsten to or say anything you wouldn't have your mother and sister
hear, and you'll never jeel ashamed to come home, or we to see you.
A boy that will do those things will find that he is in the way
of becoming a good, clean, honorable man — a faithful Latter-day
Saint. A boy that will keep his ears closed to filthy and obscene
stories, and will guard his tongue from uttering an unclean word,
— a word that his m >ther and his sister might not hear — will find
that he has conceived within him a power for righteousness.
It is clean boys that make clean men. We have often been
led to admire the clean strain that ran through the character of
President Ulysses S. Grant. A number of incidents are related
of him. in his attitude toward purity of thought. On one occasion,
he was seated in the Senate clumber, surrounded by a number of
prominent men. It was a recess period, and they were conversing and
telling stories. A Senator thought to tell a story, which a mother
or a sister might not hear, and casting his eyes about the gallery
began, "As there are. no ladies present," when he was suddenly
interrupted by the President with, "But there are gentlemen
present, and you'll please not tell that story here."
George W. Childs wrote of Grant, "A great trait of Grant's
character was his purity. I never heard him express an impure
thought, or make an indelicate allusion in any way or shape. There
is nothing I ever heard him say that could not be repeated in the
presence of women."
The boys of the Latter-day Saints should live so that such a
remark might be truthfully made of every one of them.
Oakley, Idaho.
ANTHONY W. IVINS.
Chosen, sustained and ordained, October 6, 1907, a member of the
Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
EDITOR'S TABLE.
THANKSGIVING DAY.
As far back as history is recorded, men have given thanks
for the blessings they have enjoyed. Thanksgiving day seems to
be the only holiday which the Americans celebrate right. It is a
home day. A day of association and love in the home. The day
in New England history dates from November, 1621, when, the
year following the landing, the little Plymouth colony numbered
scarcely a hundred people. In Governor William Bradford's His-
tory of the Plymouth Plantation (1602-47), it is said: "Our harvest
being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, so that
we might, after a special manner, rejoice together, after we had
gathered the fruit of our labors." And so the custom grew and
was observed year after year, until now Thanksgiving is the
national anniversary.
The Pilgrims landed on the shortest day of the year, in 1620;
but the Massachusetts Bay Colony, of two thousand people, on the
longest day, in 1630. The latter were well equipped, and had
every sign of prosperity about them. But their first Thanksgiving
was more dramatic. The sea food in the new country was unfa-
miliar to them, and the following fall and winter many died. Gov-
ernor John Winthrop, however, with rare foresight, had sent Cap-
tain Pierce with a ship to England, soon after they landed, with
nstructions to hastily return loaded with wheat, barley, oats, rye,
cheese and butter. When, in February of 1631, Pierce's return-
ing ship hove in sight, the colony were tired and discouraged.
The governor had his "last batch of bread in the oven," and there
56 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
were sickness, sorrow, death and apprehension. In January solemn
fasts had been observed, and the grumbling and discontented
were reminded by the General Court that "man does not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God." They were told that it will not do to sit sighing here for
the flesh pots of Egypt. So a solemn fast was appointed that the
people might learn how to use their flesh and fish, and remember
that they came there for "the greater glory of God and to enjoy
him forever."
But when the ship hove in sight, the General Court's order
for fasting was changed to one for thanksgiving. Thus came the
first Thanksgiving Day for the Massachusetts Bay colony. It was
the first and last Thanksgiving in February, for which there was
then a very good reason. The old New England Thanksgiving, in
November, was afterwards adopted, and from such beginnings as
these it has grown to be a holiday in all the states and dominions
of our great country.
It is a day for thanks to God for his bountiful gifts to us.
As a nation we are at peace; we are prosperous beyond prophecy.
There is plenty of wheat, and corn, and rye, and oats, and flesh and
fowl for all, and enough to send a daily surplus to our brothers in
every part of the world. And let us hope there is love for our
fellows and for each other, and a genuine spirit of thanks and de-
votion in our hearts to the Giver of all good.
No people on the earth have greater occasion to be thankful
to the Lord this Thanksgiving Day than the Latter-day Saints.
They enjoy all these blessings, and in addition the custody of the
gospel of our Lord, with its accompanying spiritual gifts. They
should not be forgetful of these things, nor of their duties and re-
sponsibilities because of them. On this day there should be no
poor or unfortunate one forgotten, no homeless one or stranger in
our midst uncomforted; for be it remembered there is scarcely a
land or an ocean where some of our wanderers are not passing
lonely in the cities, traversing the valleys, or counting the waves.
Let us serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his
presence with singing. ' 'Know ye not," says the Psalmist, that the
Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his
EDITOR'S TABLE. 57
gates with thanksgiving, and unto his courts with praise: be
thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his
mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."
CHURCH LITERATURE IN JAPAN.
The Era has received a copy of A Brief History of the Church,
translated into Japanese by Elder John W. Stoker, illustrated with
many Utah scenes, and persons, and a map of the United States,
and published by the Japan Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. In an interesting letter to the editors, Elder
Alma 0. Taylor, president of the mission, says:
We have no apologies to make, for the general appearance of the book inside
or out, nor for the slight mistakes that appear, for considering that this is the
first attempt made by us to publish a book of such size and kind, we are proud of
the success of this our maiden effort. There are many books in circulation which
bear the name of experienced publishers, but they are no better than "our his-
tory." * * * * Elder Stoker, whose faithful, diligent labor
made the translation a success, is a recipient of the praise and gratitude of the
mission president, missionaries, and Saints, all of whom have anxiously and
prayerfully awaited the coming forth of this book in the native language. And
while we give to Elder Stoker and those who rendered valuable assistance to the
work, due praise and honor, we recognize that without the blessing of God our
success would not have been as satisfactory as it is.
The first edition consists of 1,000 copies, 500 copies bound in cloth and 500
in paper. We sell the cloth binding for 55 sen (27 1-2 cents) each, and the
paper bound copies for 40 sen (20 cents each).
One of Elder Stoker's relatives suggested that there doesn't seem to be any-
thing "brief" about this history, judging by the time it has taken to translate
and publish it into Japanese. But the translation was particularly difficult, for it
required the deepest thought and study to make suitable and true translations of
the words and expressions peculiar to our Church. In fact, words like '"high
council," "primary," "revelation," "priesthood," "Godhead," etc., have each
taken hours and hours of thought and discussion, for these words have their pecu-
liar significance in our Church, and the current words for even a common English
word like "revelation," are too sectarian in meaning to be of any use to us. This
translation presents many entirely new words to the Japanese vocabulary, and it
has been an arduous labor indeed to get words which convey the true meaning of
58 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
our English, and at the same time that would be within the range of the reader's un-
derstanding, for be it kept in mind that new words in Japanese are made by making
new combinations of old words. By this book, then,wehopeto successfully and en-
duringly establish, among our members at least, definite Japanese words convey-
ing the meaning of our strictly "Mormon" terms.
The English preface was not translated, but instead the fol-
lowing introduction appears, the English of which is here printed.
President Taylor and his associates certainly deserve high com-
mendation and praise for their persistent, literary labors, under
very trying conditions, not only with this work, but with the very
great task of translating and printing the Book of Mormon which
they are now completing:
PREFACE.
Believing that the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
when read without prejudice and with a desire to know facts, is one of the strong-
est evidences of the divinity of its claims, and intensely interesting even to the
casual reader; and recognizing the need of such a history for the benefit of the
Saints and investigators in Japan, the translation of A Brief History of the Church
was undertaken.
Elder John W. Stoker was selected by the officers of the Japan mission to
make the translation. He labored faithfully and well to accomplish his task, but
having very many other duties to perform in connection with the mission, he was
unable to devote his entire time to the work. Finally, through the blessings of
God, his translation was completed, and the criticisms and suggestions of several
capable Japanese were solicited and kindly given.
This baok, being simply a brief history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter-day Saints, does not attempt to detail events, but to mention, in a general
and accurate way, the important incidents connected with the rise and progress
of the Church from the early part of the 19th century to the present time. The
author of the original, Elder Edward F. Anderson, compiled this brief history
from, and after a careful research of, the full and reliable histories of the Church
and its leaders.
Several minor and unimportant items, together with many proper names, have
been omitted in the translation. At the same time, additional historical facts
have been inserted where, in the judgment of the translator and his counselors,
such additions were necessary and of interest. So far as possible the history has
been illustrated, and two maps showing the migrations of the Church, have been
carefully prepared. A rather lengthy appendix, not in the original, discusses the
relationship of the "Mormon" Church to polygamy, both as a practice aud prin-
ciple, and gives a brief story of the Japan mission.
A perusal of the pages of this book will give a fair idea of the great faith of
the Latter-day Saints, and the unparalleled hardships through which they passed for
EDITOR'S TABLE. 59
the sake of their religious convictions. The reader will also note, perhaps with
more or less wonderment, the marvelous advancement and growth of this remark-
able Church, in spite of the slander heaped upon it, the persecution waged against
it, and the continual opposition it has received. And, too, reference to the prin-
ciples and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which gospel is nothing more
nor less than the plan which Cod, the Eternal Father of man, and Creator of
heaven and earth, has established for the salvation of the human race, will be
found herein by the careful reader.
While the true name of the Church is: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter-day Saints" (the words "Latter-day Saints" are used to show the relation of
tha Saints today to those who lived in the days of Christ and the Apstles), it is
often referred to as "the 'Mormon' Church;" its members as "Mormons," and
the system as "Mormonism." The reason is this: As this history shows, a sacred
book known as the Book of Mormon, was revealed to the world through the
agency of Joseph Smith. The Latter-day Saints look upon this book as the word
of God. It is one of the standard books of the Church. Therefore, the enemies
of the Church, desiring to avoid the true name, nicknamed it the "Mormon"
Church in derision. By this nickname it has become known throughout the
world. There is no particular objection to the name "Mormon" itself, for Mor-
mon was a man of God, who lived in America anciently. He is the prophet who
compiled the Book of Mormon. The meaning of the word, "Mormon" is "more
good." The " 'Mormon' Church" certainly stands for all that is good.
In presenting this book to the public, we pray that the Spirit of God may ac-
company the same, and that those who read or study its contents may be con-
vinced of the divine origin of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, and
receive a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Japan Mission of the Church op Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 12, 1907.
MESSAGES FROM THE MISSIONS.
Elder Sylvester Q. Cannon, President of the Netherlands-Belgium mission,
writing from Rotterdam, September 19, to Elder Heber J. Grant, says: "It is
common among the elders when writing to you to tell you they appreciate the Era,
but it is none the less meant. It certainly is a very valuable magazine, and those
who publish it are very magnanimous in sending it free of charge to all the mis-
sionaries in the field. Our work here is growing steadily, and developing in all
directions. The outlook is prosperous. We have about sixty elders in Holland
and Belgium, nearly one half of whom have come into the field within the past
four months. Of course, as yet these brethren are not very free in the use of the
language, but as soon as they get a little farther along, together with the rest of
the missionaries in this field, they will be able to accomplish a great work.
60 IMPROVEMENT. ERA.
There is plenty to do. The field is indeed ready for the harvest. A great deal of
inquiry is manifest. There is naturally some opposition, and some incorrect arti-
cles written in the papers. At the same time the papers are generally fair to us,
and set forth our views also. Good results are being obtained in the way of bap-
tisms. During the month of August, forty-five people were baptized, and the pros-
pects are favorable for the future. We expect to be in another home by
October 13."
Mr. John Cottam, of No. 31 North Road, St. Helens, near Liverpool, England,
writing to Elder I. L. Robson, of Ogden, Utah, among other things concerning the
Latter-day Saints, acknowledges that he and his family are the gainers by coming
in contact with such men as Brother Robson and the elders. He says of the
pioneers: "Those Utah pioneers who are still living must be delighted with the
sixty years of great progress; and with such men as they are still educating for
the work, must achieve even greater success. If the converts you make in Eng-
land are composed of the same material as the ear'.y pioneers, they should be per-
suaded to stay here and build up another Utah in this country. I am aware that
'Mormon' missionaries are only flesh and blood, like one's self, but I can truthfully
say that I have never met such good, upright, straightforward men before, and
anyone coming in contact with them will be benefitted by their presence."
Elder J. W. Linford, president of the Manawatu branch, Auckland,
New Zealand, writes, August 31, 1907: "In an carticle in the July
number of the Era, under 'Messages from the Missions,' giving an
account of conditions in Porirua, the erroneous statement is made that most
of the saints had fallen away, and would not invite the traveling elders to stav
with them. While it is true that most of the Saints had grown indifferent, very
few had fallen away, and none have ever been known to deny the truth. In Po-
rirua, as elsewhere in New Zealand, there are always some of the natives who stand
as pillars of light to their people. At no time in the history of the Porirua
branch have people refused entertainment to the elders. On the contrary, they
have always had kind treatment, and have had a comfortable, clean room at their
disposal. They did tear the old chapel down, but it was done because it had been
condemned, and they took immediate steps to collect funds to rebuild."
Elder Jos. Woodbury writing the Era from Fairmont, West Va., September
23, states that he is encouraged at the prospects of the work in that part of the
country, and that the outlook for the future is good. The greatest drawback is a
shortage of laborers. ' 'We are trying to impress upon our converts the fact that
the best way to learn more of the gospel is to teach it to others." He states that
they are about to organize a Mutual Improvement Association among the young
people. The elders are all well and working hard, though through the past sum-
mer they have had considerable sickness.
Writing from Tuasivi, Savaii, Samoa, August 20, 1907, Elder Wilford A.
Porter says: "The Era is an ever welcome visitor to us who are laboring here on
the islands of the sunny South. Its pages are filled with inspiring and uplifting
EDITOR'S TABLE. 61
thoughts, which we take great delight in reading. The work is progressing nicely
here. There are three elders laboring on this island, and we are united in our labors.
Myself and Elder Chas. Lallathine recently returned from a two months' prose-
lyting tour around the island. We were successful in holding several excellent
meetings and many good gospel conversations with the natives. While there are
many who are prejudiced, and refuse to listen to the gospel, there are those who
are congenial and apparently anxious to listen to our teachings. Were it not for
the thoughts of being mocked and ridiculed by their own people, there would no
dDubt be many who would gladly accept of the gospel. However, we do not feel
discouraged, but put our trust in the Lord. And we are thankful that we have
the privilege of publishing glad tidings of great joy to this people, who are indeed
a branch of the house of Israel. ' '
Elder G, N. Curtis, secretary of the Northern States mission, writes from
Chicago, September 21: The Lord is blessing us in this part of his vineyard and
we have great cause to rejoice. Success is attending the efforts of the elders.
The conference presidents met in Chicago the 30th and 31st of August for the pur-
pose of devising ways and means of reaching the people of the Northern States
mission. Several plans were talked over, and as a result our different conferences
are following out several new plans. The one that is most in order is to divide
the company in two sections, and aim to spend one night during the week in sev-
eral towns that have been previously marked out by the conference president, and
then at the end of the week, hold several meetings at some chosen point. All the
elders are encouraged in this line of work, and are loud in praise of the same.
The improved condition cf our work speaks highly of this new method- Wish
you joy and success.
NOTES.
To live our religion is just as hard as to die for it. He that endures to the
end shall be saved. — President Anthon H. Lund.
"In all your troubles, go to the Lord for help; in all your joys, go to the
Lord in praise and thanksgiving."— Dr. George H. Brimhall in White and
Blue.
One branch of the Transvaal legislature, at the urging of the ministry, has voted
to present to King Edward the Cullinan diamond, found in the Premier mine in
1905. The stone uncut was four and one half inches long, two and three-quarters
inches deep, and two and one-half inches broad. It is valued at seven hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. It has been impossible until the present to find a pur-
chaser, as there are few persons able to spend three quarters of a million dollars
on a single stone. If it had been sold to outsiders, the Transvaal government
would have received four hundred and fifty thousand dollars as its share, under
the law which makes it the owner of three-fifths oOuch stones. The mine own-
ers will receive three hundred thousand dollars for their interest in the diamond.
IN LIGHTER MOOD.
A southern negro was brought into the court-room accused of stealing a
neighbor's chickens.
"Mister George Washington Shinetop, did you steal those chickens?" asked
the Judge pointedly.
"No, sah, jedge; Ah is to 'spectable fo' dat."
' 'But it is stated on good authority that a bundle of feathers was found in
your back yard the day before Christmas."
' 'That 'sinneration, jedge, des proves mah innocence, co'z' how could de fedders
be found in mah back yard de day befo' Chris'mus, when mah wife didn't pluck
dose chickens until de day after Chri.'mus?"
What Harper's Weekly pronounces the meanest man in the world is
described in the following story:
A Southerner went into the store of one of his neighbors, and asked him if he
didn't want to trade.
"Whatchergot?" asked the storekeeper.
The man ran his hand down into his coat pocket and pulled out an egg.
"This," said he.
"One aig!" said the storekeeper. "And what you want for that?"
"Waall, " drawled the man, "you can gimme a couple knittin'-needles for it,
can't ye?"
"Ef that's all," said the storekeeper, "I reckon I kin."
The man received the knitting-needles, and looking up at the storekeeper, he
said:
"Aren't you goin' to treat?" (The custom South demands a treat when-
ever a swap of any kind is made. )
"Well," said the storekeeper, "what you want?"
"Oh! I'm not perticilar," said tin man. "Gi' me a drink o' sherry."
So the storekeeper handed out a bottle of sherry and a glass.
"Help yourself."
The man thought a moment, and then said, solemnly: "I never drink sherry
without breakin' an aig in it. ' '
"Well, upon mah soul," thought the storekeeper. But he handed him the egg
he had just received and said: "Here's yoh aig; you kin have it."
The man broke t'ae egg into the glass of sherry, and in doing so discovered
that the egg had two yolks. He drained the glass, smacked his lips, and pro.
nounced it a fine drink, and then said to the storekeeper: "You know you ought
to give me two more knittin'-needles, don't you?"
"Why? ' asked the storekeeper, perplexed.
"Because," said the man, "that aig o' mine had two yolks!"
SEVENTY'S COUNCIL TABLE.
BY B. H. ROBERTS, MEMBER OF THE FIRST COUNCIL.
To become a Seventy means mental activity, intellectual development, and the
attainment of spiritual power.
Congratulations. — We congratulate the Seventies, first, upon their now
having an Organ ; by which we mean, of course, a publication devoted to their in-
terest; to the development of their views; and the principles for which they stand;
also a medium of announcement and publication of official acts. By means of the
Era the First Council will be in constant communication with all the quorums of
the Seventy in the Church. They will be able to suggest, advise, counsel, and
direct the Seventies' work, both in administrative matters and in theological stu-
dies. This new adjunct to our work will be especially useful in aiding the class
work our quorums are about to undertake, since suggestions in relation to class
methods and amplification of lesson topics can be made as occasions arise for such
help to class teachers. Secondly, we congratulate the Seventies that the Era has
been chosen as the "Organ of the Seventies." Its literature, even in the past,
has been more generally adapted to our Seventies than to any other class of its
readers ; and the fact that it now becomes the Organ of the Seventies quorums as
well as of the Young Men's Improvement Associations, is a guarantee that it will
continue to possess that quality. Let us be understood here: It is the intention
of the publishers, of course, to make the magazine appropriate to both organiza-
tions to which it stands in the relationship of organ; but what we mean to convey
in the above remark is, that the Era has been the medium, of late years, through
which nearly all important doctrinal and theological articles both of an official and
semi-official character have been published, and it is these doctrinal papers that
are of especial interest to the Seventies, since they deal with questions in which
Seventies are, or should be, intensely interested; and are published in such form
that they can be easily preserved and readily consulted. In this connection we
may say that the term magazine implies variety, a receptacle in which anything is
stored, and hence a magazine gives wide latitude for a variety of literature;
stories, sketches, essays, poetry, drama, and the like. It is not expected, of
course, that its readers will be equally interested in all its parts. What may be
precious to one will be of no interest to another. One number may be issued in
which a subscriber will find many things that suit his tastes, or that are helpful
in the special lines of work he is following. The next number may contain less
64 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
that appeals to him, and more that will appeal to another reader; all in all, how-
ever, each subscriber will doubtless find articles whose value to him will be worth
many times the price of the subscription; and so we say to our Seventies, now that
we have an organ, let us make use of it, both because it will give helpful sugges-
tions in relation to conducting the special work of the quorums, and also because
it will contain literature of the general character that will be helpful in preparing
the members thereof for their labors in the ministry.
Official Recognition.— That the Seventy may see in what spirit the Young
Men's General Board met the proposition of the First Council to make the
Improvement Era the organ of the Seventies, we publish the official recognition
of said proposition:
Sept. 24, 1907.
First Seven Presidents of Seventy,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
Dear Brethren :
The General Board direct me to write your honorable body saying that they
deem it an honor to have you select the Organ of the Young Men's Mutual Im-
provement Associations, the Improvement Era, as the Official Organ for the
Seventy, and to thank you for the honor so conferred. At a meeting of the Board
held September 11, it was unanimously and with pleasure carried that the Improve-
ment Era also become the "Organ of the Seventy."
Very sincerely, your friend and brother,
Alpha J. Higgs, General Secretary.
The proposition has been equally welcomed by the Seventies wherever it has
been presented to them, and is regarded as a most fortunate thing, both for the
Era and the quorums of Seventy.
Seventies Era Agents.— The presidents of the respective quorums should at
once take under advisement the appointment of an Era agent for the quorum,
whose business it shall be to solicit subscriptions within the quorum for the maga-
zine, giving every member the opportunity of subscribing, and it should be made
clear to the brethren of our quorums what an advantage it would be for them to
be subscribers to the Era, if they would keep abreast of their work and become
acquainted with the literature that will help to prepare them for their special
calling in the priesthood. It is the desire of the First Council that this work
shall be promptly and effiiciently performed, and let it be done at once, and if
done thoroughly, it may then be dismissed for the year. The terms are two dollars
per year, paid in advance; and the agents should promptly send both names and
money to Alpha J. Higgs, Nos. 214-215, Templeton Building, Salt Lake City. It
should be understood that the agents will render their services gratuitously; the
work is a labor of love and interest to the cause for which the Era stands, the
Seventies' work and the work of Mutual Improvement. The Era sends copies of
each issue free to some two thousand missionaries in all parts of the world; it
could not do this only that its agents who solicit and collect its subscriptions give
SEVENTY'S COUNCIL TABLE. 65
their service gratuitously in the interest of missionary work ; and it is on this
basis that the First Council ask their brethren who shall be called to act as agents
to accept the appointment cheerfully, and perform the work promptly and well.
The First Lesson. — We call especial attention of the quorums to the Intro-
duction to the Seventy's Course in Theology for this year, and as there is no such
suggestion in the Introduction itself, we make it here. The Introduction should
be taken up as tne first lesson of the course, as an understanding of what is there
set forth is necessary to a clear comprehension of what is sought to be achieved
in the lessons following it. We advise, therefore, that on the first meeting of the
quorums, on the first Sunday in November, that the Introduction first be read
through, and afterwards that it be read and discussed topic by topic until a
thorough understanding shall be had of each division of it. Then at the second
meeting, the first lesson in Part I may be taken up.
Each member of the quorum should have The Seventies' Year Book, since he
will not be able to fully participate in the lessons without he is so furnished. The
price of the Year Book is but 25 cents, and no Seventy can afford to be without it.
Quorums sending in their orders for the Year Book, should order as many as there
are members in the quorum. A workman could just as consistently undertake a
job of work without tools, as a Seventy can undertake his class work without this
book outlining the year's work; and the Presidents should put the matter forcibly
before the brethren, and take steps to have each member supplied with means of
studying the class lessons.
The New Movement— The inauguration of the new working conditions
under which the quorums will hereafter do their work is quite frequently referred
to as the "New Movement among the Seventies," or more briefly ' 'The New Move-
ment." The phrases are certainly not inappropriate; but have you stopped to
think what the "New Movement" will mean to Seventies work? In the first place
it gives us a day-time appointment for our quorum meetings, on a day regularly
set apart for worship and thought and reading concerning the things of God; our
members are released from other Church duties during that forenoon, that they
may devote themselves to this quorum appointment and its work; the arrangement
gives a uniform time of meeting for all the quorums in the Church; it will enable
all the quorums to pursue the same general line of study, and at the same time ;
the meetings will be so frequent and regular that interest in the Seventies' course
of study can be sustained throughout the year; the new arrangement practically
insures us a very much larger attendance upon quorum meetings; it sweeps away
all excuses for protracted absence from quorum appointments ; it gives recognition
to the importance of the Seventies' work, and emphasizes the dignity of the foreign
ministry of the Church ; to use the phraseology of the Fi^st Presidency in their
circular letter to the Presidency of the Stakes— it will enable us "to make the
quorums the schools of instruction they ought to be, and which it was intended of
the Lord from the beginning that they should become."
The General Conference of the Seventies, 1907.— The first General
Conference held by the Seventies in sixty three years convened at the Assembly
66 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
Hall, Salt Lake City, on Friday evening, October 4, 1907, Elder Seymour B.
Young presiding. The number of quorums represented were 132 out of 151
quorums in the Church, so that all but 19 quorums were represented; and when it
is remembered that these quorums are scattered in three countries, Mexico, the
United States and Canada, in five of the inter-mountain states and two of the ter-
ritories, the representation was remarkable. There were 239 Presidents of
quorums in attendance, and 277 members. The opening prayer was offered by
Elder Francis M. Lyman, President of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, and in
itself grandlv foreshadowed the purpose and spirit of the "New Movement among
the Seventies." Words of greeting were given by the Senior President of the
First Council, Elder Seymour B. Young; after which the purpose of the "New
Movement" and the first year's course in theology, were outlined by Elder B; H.
Eoberts of the First Council. The singing led by Brother Evan Stephens was
spirited throughout, and contributed much to the enjoyment of those present. The
closing prayer was offered by Elder John Henry Smith. It was an occasion long
to be remembered, and the hope was very generally expressed that such a conference
would be held every year, at the time of the General Conference of the Church, in
October.
Seventies' Conference in 1844. — The last General Conference of the
Seventies was held in the city of Nauvoo, beginning on the 26th of December,
1844, and continuing through one week. At that time there were fourteen
quorums of Seventy in the Church. These quorums that year had erected a
Seventies' Hall, and on the 26th of December, 1844, the dedicatory services began.
It was arranged that two quorums with their wives and children should meet each
day throughout the week, with the first council always present. A number of the
Twelve Apostles were present at each of the services and addressed the Seventies
and their families. President Brigham Young offered the dedicatory prayer at the
first session of the conference, and W. W. Phelps' hymn, "A voice from the
Prophet," written for these services, was sung; it's opening line is
' 'Come to me, will ye come to the Saints that have died, ' ' etc.
It was for these services also that the late President John Taylor wrote his
heroic hymn,
' 'The Seer, the Seer, Joseph the Seer !' '
though he dedicated the hymn to President Brigham Young.
All these are pleasant memories, even if they are tinged with sadness, and
we gladly refer to them for the instruction of our Seventies in relation to the
history of our organizations. Now that we have resumed the holding of our
general Seventies conferences, and with them have now gathered up the scattered
threads of our history, let us hope that never again will sixty- three years be
allowed to pass without a general Seventies conference b eing held.
MUTUAL WORK.
HELPING TO GET FIFTEEN THOUSAND.
We are pleased to note that a number of the association officers have already
secured five per cent of their Church poputation, and over, as subscribers for
Vol. XI of the Improvement Era. The Heber City Second ward, Wasatch stake,
President RoyalJ. Murdock, and Counselor Leo N. Richards, had already secured a
list of 51 subscriptions on September 27, which is nearly eleven per cent of the
Church population, and by Octob-
®er 15 they had 72, or 15 per cent.
In connection with this work they
were doing effective missionary
labor, before the opening of the
season. They had visited nearly
every man who is of Mutual Im-
provement age in their ward,
and their efforts in this direction
are certainly commendable, and
a good example to other Mutual
Improvement officers in the
Church. Superintendent John
royal j . murdock. T. Roberts "writes that | the leo N. Richards.
satisfaction they received from
their labors is worth all the effort they put forth, and they rejoice in the work
accomplished ,not so much from the goodly number of subscribers they obtained, as in
the fact that the Lord blessed them in meeting with the young men of their ward,
and in feeling that the spirit of the gospel is still with the young men of Zion, and
that they are willing to assist with their means the institutions of the Church.
"President Murdock and Counselor Richards," says Superintendent Roberts, "have
been connected with the Second ward Y. M. M. I. A. for two years past, and have
been able to get five per cent of the ward population for the past two volumes ;
but this did not satisfy them, and, as President Murdock expresses himself, 'Most
people will not follow you up asking that they may subscribe; but if you will go
after them and take their names, it is an easy matter to get subscribers.' I am
68 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
not informed just what other wards of the stake are doing along this line, but feel
confident that our share of the 15,000 will be forthcoming."
Superintendent Preston D. Richards, of the Granite stake, reports that on
Monday, October 14, all the wards in that stake had secured five per cent, as sub-
scribers, and many of the wards more.
In this connection, the second ward of Rexburg should also be named, as
its officers had secured nearly five per cent as early as the 1st of October.
What one ward and stake can do, all the others may. It is a matter of getting
at it in the right way. From the encouraging reports received, we are confident
volume XI will reach the 15,000 mark. Have you done your part?
PLANNED WORK;
At the stake convention held in Pocatello, September 8, Elder Noah S. Pond,
of the Stake presidency, read the following paper. It is full of good counsel, is
an inspiration to systematic effort, and its advice applies not only to M. I. A.
work and workers, but also to other affairs of life, and to laborers in other direc-
tions. The person who would succeed may gather this motto from its teachings:
"Plan your work, then work your plan:"
Planned work implies system. System does not mean an endless amount of
red tape, but rather the attainment of a desired aim, the accomplishment of
proper result by the shortest possible route. Discreet and wise adjustment of
means to ends will bring success. All work, reforms or revolutions must be
wisely planned and carefully executed, if they are to be effectual. History shows
very generously that no great epoch in thought or morals has shown signal suc-
cess which has not been minutely marked out, and which was not duly adjusted to
antecedents and consequents. The records of the past abound with premature and
belated efforts to accomplish a great good, all of which came to naught because
the details were not properly planned.
We must not want the end without the means. We must not expect the
harvest before the planting of the seed and the growth thereof. We must not
expect victory before the battle. The laws of nature and of Providence, too, are
true to the logic of events. Antecedents always precede consequents : premises
must go before conclusion; causes before results.
(a) Value and Necessity of Regular Officers' Meetings and Persistent
Missionary Work.
Were I honored with the call as president of a Mutual Improvement Associa-
tion, I would labor earnestly for the establishment of regular and systematic offi-
cers' meetings. By being prompt and regular myself, I could reasonably well
urge similar fidelity on the part of every other officer. Adopt an order of business
MUTUAL WORK. 69
for the purpose of methodically disposing of each necessary feature of your work:
(1) Opening exercises in which each officer should participate in singing. And
sing with the desire for improvement, development, and the good that comes from
the power of example. (2) Prayer in which the aid of our Heavenly Father
would be invoked in our work. (3) Reading of minutes. (4) Correspondence.
Read all letters from stake or general boards. Discuss their contents and properly
dispose of all important features. (5) Reports, (a) Membership, (b) Missionary
work, (c) Era subscriptions, Manuals, funds, (d) Amusements. (6) Miscel-
laneous. (7) Dismissal.
(b) Preliminary Programs and' Manual Work.
Appoint a live and capable program committee. Choice recreative, intellec-
tual programs will be found first class inducements for prompt attendance and
increased enrollment. I suggest close adherence to outlines in our last year's Man-
ual, as follows, with one addition:
1. Devotional Exercises— Singing and prayer.
2. Literary Exercises— Story, recitation, essay, extemporaneous speaking or
reading.
3. Musical Exercises — Vocal solos, duets, quartettes, instrumental, congre.
gational singing of hymns.
4. Current Events — Political, social, scientific progress.
5. Parliamentary Practice — Successfully resolving entire audience into a par-
liamentary body with capable chairman and leaders on the floor, will be found
highly interesting and instructive practice for thirty minutes.
Invite assistance of class leaders in mapping out manual work.
(c) Adopt Systematic Methods for Obtaining and Distributing Man-
uals.
Ascertain as near as possible the number that may be in attendance at open-
ing of the season's work and have sufficient Manuals on hand at that meeting.
Endeavor to have each young man purchase a Manual. This will not only add
interest and numbers to the enrollment, but will also prove an opening wedge in
many instances in securing subscribers for the Era, when the young men are
informed that they receive this valuable treatise free by subscribing for the Era.
(d) Give a Synopsis of Contents of Senior and Junior Manuals.
We are requested to give a synopsis of that which we have not yet reviewed
or seen. But from the report of Elder E. H. Anderson, before the young men's
recent annual conference, we learn that the Senior Manual is entitled "Spiritual
Growth," and "will consist of about twenty lessons on spiritual topics, showing
that 'Mormonism' is a reasonable and natural religion. Prayer, its meaning and
what it has accomplished in the history of the world, will be presented in two
lessons." Definition: "Prayer is spiritual communion in which the children of
our Father may with hearts, heads, and destinies united, go up into the mountain
of Transfiguration, and bring to earth the Kingdom of Heaven."
70 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
Were I to venture mention of some examples which may be presented in the
Manual, or used in connection with it, I would name such illustrious characters
as Adam, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Daniel, Peter and John, Paul and Silas,
our beloved Savior, all of Biblical fame. In secular history no more beautiful pic-
ture of supplication can be presented than that of the ' 'Father of our Country,"
Washington, in solitude upon bended knees, in the forests of Fort Putnam and Val-
ley Forge, in 1777-8, a period which "sorely tried men's souls," imploring
Divine aid for preservation and freedom of our country and cause. In Ecclesi-
astical history, the life -long prayer of the priest and patriot, Savonarola, "Lord,
teach me the way thou wouldst have my soul to walk," is another beautiful
example.
In our own day the prayers of the Prophet Joseph Smith stand pre-eminent,
the fervor and sincerity of which drew from the heavens the Father and Son, and
these, with angelic personages, became the prophet's tutors.
Succeeding lessons will present reasons for Church organizations and their
effect on spiritual growth. Ordinances in the Church, and loyalty to the priest-
hood will be shown to be growth in the right direction One lesson will present the
advantage, wisdom and practicability of counsel. Personal experiences and testi-
monies from Church works will be considered. The history and value of tithing
will be the topic of two lessons. A third lesson will adduce testimony from
mediaeval and modern history. What chastity is and its effects will be interestingly
presented in two lessons. Another lesson will deal with fasting and show how
this principle promotes spiritual communion. Offerings to the poor and general
love for humanity, chastity and the strength that is derived therefrom will be
subjects for concluding discussions.
From this brief and imperfect synopsis it will be readily seen and freely
conceded that this year's manual, with its wealth of inspiring suggestions, will
out-class its predecessors, and through the net results of its mental and spiritual
f eastings, may be declared "the best one of them all."
May we welcome its advent and be blessed in the perusal of its contents-
The Junior Manual is a reproduction of 1902-1903, containing eighteen les-
sons on ' "The Acts of the Apostles," their endowment, hbors in and beyond
Jerusalem; persecutions through which they passed; conversion of Saul; why they
were taken to the Gentiles; missionary journeys and imprisonments; Saul's defense
before the Jewish council; Felix and Festus.
(e) Select Proficient Class Leaders and Urge them to Develop Inter-
est in the Classes.
Were I selected as a class leader in a Mutual Improvement Association, I
would accept the honor as a compliment to my ability, not in the egotism of my
soul, but in the gratitude of my heart, and God being my helper, would lend every
effort to the successful discharge of this educational responsibility. Interest is
most quickly developed where the best and most earnest thought is gathered,
concentrated, and focused upon the subject matter before a class. It is said that
MUTUAL WORK. 71
we may scatter the contents of a powder keg upon an area of twelve or fifteen
square feet, and when exploded it will be nothing more than a harmless flare, but
imprison the same amount of powder in a rock, and when it explodes the con-
cussion will be great enough to blow to atoms forty tons of granite.
(f) Create Enthusiasm among the Officers and Inspire Them with the
Spirit of the Work.
Enthusiasm is a prime quality needed in men of activity. It is born of
energy and the consciousness of power. Enthusiasm is one of the characteristics
in the accomplishment of great things, and has always manifested itself wherever
great work was done; whether in silent, studious research, or in the pressure of
the thunders of war; whether in the workshop, in the field, at the desk, on the
platform or the battlefield, it is the same enthusiasm which conquers all. No
man is so poor as he who has lost or expended all his enthusiasm. Luther's
enthusiasm won for him his high place in history. Agassiz was led by enthusiasm
to the trackless forests of the Amazon and the towering rocks of the Alps. The
deep meditation of Newton, the gigantic calculations of Keppler, the valuable dis-
coveries of Faraday, the heroic inventions of Galileo andHerschel were all aided by
this wonderful element of enthusiasm. What would have been the result had
Washington, Longfellow, or Gladstone been devoid of enthusiasm in their work?
What of Hannibal, the Carthagenian, or Julius Caesar, the Roman? Not even
sickness, poverty or disaster, could cool or kill the enthusiasm of Palissy, the
potter. Enthusiasm was one of the elements which led Elihu Burritfc from the
forge and anvil to the mastery of forty languages. It sustained John Bunyan,
while he wrote the Pilgrim's Progress within prison walls.
Csesar's enthusiasm created bravery in the face of peril. Through it he
smote the Helvetians and subdued Gaul, suppressed insurrections as they arose;
forced his way into all the strongholds of his enemies; crossed the Rhine upon a
bridge of his own building; passed into Britain and penetrated the Thames.
After eight years of continuous war, in which he never lost a battle, he
returned to his own beloved Italy to fight with equal enthusiasm one of the blood-
iest of civil wars. His enthusiasm glorified all his accomplishments, and his
career closed at last with the high honor of martyrdom for the liberty of Rome's
downtrodden people. May the fire of enthusiasm be kindled in the hearts of all
mutual workers, to our ultimate success and our Father's glory. Amen.
Pocatello, Idaho.
CHANGES IN STAKE SUPERINTENDENTS.
George A.Taggarthas been appointed superintendent of Morgan stake, Utah,
Y. M. M. I. A., to succed C. M. Croft; George T. Crosby, Jr. of the St. Joseph
72 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
stake, Arizona, to succeed W. T. Webb, who was released July 27; Charles A.
Hardy, of Vernal, Uintah stake, to succeed Elder David Bennion; H. E. Maxfield,
of Fremont, Wayne stake, to succeed M. W. Maxfield of Teasdale, Utah; Edward
M. Ashton, 984 Lincoln Avenue, Salt Lake City, of Liberty stake, to succeed
Louis Iverson; Walter Hogan, of Thatcher, Idaho, of Bannock stake, to succeed
Harry Horsley, of Soda Springs; Rodney Hillam,Jr. , 129 C street, Salt Lake City,
•of Ensign stake, to succeed Mathoninah Thomas; Wm. H. Lovesey, of Pocatello
stake. Idaho, to succeed Elvin J. Norton; Preston D. Richards, of Granite stake, to
succeed W. C. Winder. The superintendents and their addresses are as follows:
Alberta — William 0. Lee, Cardston, Alberta, Canada
Alpine — George N. Child, Lehi, Utah
Bannock—Walter Hogan, Thatcher, Idaho
Bear Lake — Edward Saxton, Paris, Idaho.
Beaver— Hyrum M. White, Beaver, Utah
Benson — Parley N. Nelson, Richmond, Utah
Big Horn — John H. Hinckley, Cowley, Wyoming
Bingham— Robert Andrus, Ako, Idaho, Idaho Falls R. D., No. 2
Blackfoot — T. J. Bennett, Shelley, Idaho
Box Elder — Ernest P. Horsley, Brigham City, Utah
Cache — A. E. Cranney, Logan. Utah
Cassia— Albert M. Merrill. Oakley, Idaho
Davis, North — Hubert C. Burton, Kaysville, Utah
Davis, South — Jos. F. Tingey, Centerville, Utah
Emery — Louis p. Oveson, Cleveland, Utah
Ensign — Rodney Hillam, Jr., 129 C Street, Salt Lake City
Fremont — George E. Hyde, Rexburg, Idaho
Granite — Preston D. Richards, 1935 9th East Street, Salt Lake Citv
Hyrum — D. M. Bickmore, Paradise, Utah
Jordan — Joshua P. Terry, Draper, Utah
Juarez — George S. Romney, Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Kanab — Heber J. Meeks, Orderville, Utah
Liberty — Edward M. Ashton, 984 Lincoln Avenue, Salt Lake City
Malad — Richard Hill, Malad, Idaho
Maricopa — Mahonri A.Stewart, Mesa, Arizona
Millard — John A. Beckstrand, Meadow, Utah
Morgan — George A. Taggart, Morgan, Utah
Nebo— Samuel E. Taylor, Payson, Utah
North Sanpete — Hans P. Hansen, Fairview, Utah
Oneida — Arthur W. Hart, Preston, Idaho
Panguitch — John E. Steele, Panguitch, Utah
Parowan — Samuel E. Jones, Cedar City, Utah
Pioneer— Edward H. Eardley, 412 So, First West Street, Salt Lake City
Pocatello —William H. Lovesey, Pocatello, Idaho
Salt Lake— George Q. Morris, 21-23 W. South Temple Street, Salt Lake City
MUTUAL WORK. 73
St. George— David H. Morris, St. George, Utah
St. Johns — C. S. Love, Eagar, Arizona
St. Joseph— George T. Crosby, Safford, Arizona
San Juan— Albert R. Lyman, Grayson, Utah
San Luis— Erastus A. Neilson, Sanford, Colorado
Sevier— Christian Peterson, Glenwood, Utah
Snowflake— Joseph W. Smith, Snowflake, Arizona
South Sanpete— Lewis R. Anderson, Manti, Utah
Star Valley— Brigham D. Gardner, Thayne, Utah
Summit— George E. Wilkins Peoa, Utah
Taylor— Mark H. Brimhall, Raymond, Alberta, Canada
Teton — Walter H. Durrant, Briggs, Idaho
Tooele- -John A. Lindberg, Toeole, Utah
Uintah— Charles A. Hardy, Vernal, Utah
Union — E. Z. Carbine, La Grande, Oregon
Utah— E. S. Hinckley, Trovo, Utah
Wasatch — John T. Roberts, Heber City, Utah
Wayne— H. E. Maxfield, Fremont, Utah
Weber— John L. Herrick, Ogden, Utah
Woodruff — T. J. Brough, Lyman, Wyoming.
RECORDS AND ROLL BOOKS.
Elder Rudger Clawson said in a recent M. I. A. general conference :
"Anything that is worth doing is worth doing well, and anything that is worth
doing well is worthy of being reported, and if it is worthy of being reported, it is
worthy of preservation. I wish to emphasize that point. » In some associations,
pains are taken to get a record, but after it is completed it is laid aside and lost.
I would like to say a word in relation to the roll book. In many instances, the
roll book is kept without dates of the meetings or even the year— that is a bad
oversight, and should be corrected. I would like to emphasize the statement that
in all cases," record books should be kept, and that they should be well bound so
they can be preserved. The time may come when the historian will want to write
up a general history of the Mutual Improvement organization, and will come to
these records in the various stakes of Zion and in the various wards; and if the
records are lost, or if the information is incomplete in the records, they will not
be of much service."
The General Board have prepared a minute book, on sale at the Era office,
which is of great assistance to the secretaries in their work. Has your association
one? It is well for the stake officers to look into the matter of rolls and records,
and see that they are kept so that reports can be made on a moment's call.
EVENTS AND COMMENTS.
BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON.
New Member of the Quorum of the Twelve.— Elder Anthony W. Ivins,
president of Juarez stake, Mexico, has been nominated, sustained and ordained
one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to
fill the vacancy in the Quorum of Twelve, caused by the death of Elder George
Teasdale. His name was accepted by the quorum of Twelve Apostles, then
presented to and sustained by the Church at the seventy- eighth semi-
annual conference, Sunday, October 6, 1907. Anthony Woodward Ivins, son
of Israel Ivins and Anna Lowrie, was born at Toms River, Ocean county, New
Jersey, September 16, 1852, and a year later came to Utah with his par-
ents, who remained in Salt Lake City until 1861, when the family removed to St.
George. His education was obtained in the public schools. From an early age he
has been accustomed to practical labor; and he has been a Church worker from
the first. As early as 1875, he performed a mission to Mexico, exploring, with
his companions, the Salt River Valley, the Little Colorado River country, and
northern Chihuahua and all the section of country where the Latter-day Saints are
now settled, in Mexico.
His second mission was to the Navajo and Pueblo Indians, in Arizona and
New Mexico, in 1878. The year following, he became an active officer in the Y.
M. M. I. A. of St. George, presiding first over the fourth ward, and later over the
consolidated associations. He became a High Councilor in St. George stake in
1881, and in 1888, the first counselor in the stake presidency. In 1895, he was
chosen president of the Juarez stake, Mexico, which was organized on the 9th of
December. From that time on he has resided in Colonia Juarez, conducting the
affairs of his stake with marked ability.
In political matters, he has been no less active. He served in St. George as
constable, city councilor, attorney and mavor; in the county, as deputy sheriff and
prosecuting attorney; and in the state, as representative to the legislature in 1894,
as a member of the state constitutional convention of 1895; and as govern-
ment Indian agent for the Shebit Indians for two years . He gave satisfaction in
every position. As in Church and political affairs, he has had wide and success-
EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 75
ful experience in business. As manager of the Mojave Land and Cattle company,
and the Kiabah Cattle company of Utah and Arizona, and at present vice-president
and general manager of the Mexican Colonization and Agricultural company, he
has shown persistent push, wise judgment, careful management and many other
pre-eminent business qualifications that stamp him a successful man of affairs.
His practical, wide and varied business, ecclesiastical, and colonizing experiences
fit him specially for the exalted calling which he now occupies as one of the
Twelve. Besides these qualifications, he is an energetic student, and a fluent and
effective public speaker, and he is not unknown to readers of the Era as a writer.
He is a practical, influential man of the people, in possession of deep sympathy for
the masses, and in full enjoyment of the spirit and power of the gospel of Jesus
Christ as a redeeming and uplifting force in the world. He can lasso and brand a
steer with the roughest cowboy; or hold his own side by side with the hardiest sons
of toil; yet, as a father under the refining influences of home, as a member of
society, an able minister in the house of worship, or a counselor and leader among
the people, he commands the attention and admiration of all classes.
Oklahoma.- By a vote of about three to one, the constitution of the state
of Oklahoma was adopted at an election held September 17. The clause which ex-
tends over the entire state the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors, al-
ready provided for in Indian Territory, was adopted by a majority of ab,out 30,000;
and the whole Democratic state ticket, with Charles N. Haskell for governor, was
elected by a plurality of about 20,000. Four out of five congressmen were
elected by the Democrats, who have also a large majority in the legislature which
will choose two United States senators. The action of the legislature is fore-
shadowei by the primaries held last June, at which Robert L. Owen, who is one-
eighth Cherokee, a graduate of Washington and Lee University, a teacher, an
editor, a banker, lawyer, and an Indian agent to the Five Tribes; and Thomas P.
Gore, a brilliant young blind man, were elected for senators. Charles Carter, who
is one-fourth Chickasaw Indian, and also has some Cherokee Indian blood, a Demo-
crat, farmer and stockman, is Congressman-elect from the 4th Oklahoma District.
But this man Thomas P. Gore will interest young men, for according to biog-
raphies printed of him he has probably overcome a greater physical handicap to
achieve success than any other national figure in the history of our country. He
is 37 years of age, and totally blind. When eight years of age he was struck in
the eye by a playmate, and at eleven years of age, while serving as a page in the
Mississippi state senate, he was struck in his remaining eye with the arrow of a
cross-bow. But undaunted, he went on with his studies, entering college at six-
teen, where he asked no favors, and graduated with distinction. In June, 1892,
he graduated from the law school of Cumberland University, Tenn. In 1902, he
was elected to the territorial senate, and in the campaign last summer stumped
the state and convinced the people, by his ready wit, his iron memory, and his re-
markable eloquence, that he would be of more use to the people in the national
senate than the millionaire banker, or the wealthy attorney, who were his oppo-
nents in what is pronounced "a heated and acrimonious campaign.*' If the legis-
lature shall follow instructions, his election to the senate is practically assured
76 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
Mr. Gore owes much of his educational success to a fellow class- and room-mate,
Charles H. Pittman, who, during the long college years, studied aloud at all times
so that his blind companion could follow the daily tasks.
Why does Oklahoma have five Congressmen? you ask. Because it is shown,
by the recently completed census, that the state has a population of 1,408,732. It
has grown to this number since 1900. when Indian Territory and Oklahoma, which
two former territories now compose the new state, had .a population of 790,391.
The enabling act gives the state five, but the population really entitles it to seven
representatives, on the basis of the present apportionment. The state is big in
area, also: for it is estimated that the whole of New England could be set down in
Oklahoma, and yet leave a fringe of territory amounting to nearly 4,000 square
miles.
President Roosevelt's Trip Through the Middle West.— On Sunday
evening, September 29, President Roosevelt left Washington for an extended trip
through the Middle West. He stopped first at Canton where he delivered an ad-
dress at the dedication of the McKinley monument. He sailed down the Mississippi
river from Keokuk, where he met many governors and addressed the people, to
Memphis, on the typical, old-fashioned stern- wheel steamer Mississippi as a guest
of the Inland Waterways Commission. This journey was made to accentuate the
government's increasing interest in the preparing and maintenance of a deep water
highway from the Lakes to the Gulf. It is pointed out that the opening of the
Panama canal will give to the Mississippi the opportunity of transporting perhaps
one-fifth of our nation's commerce. At St. Louis the governors of eighteen states
greeted and, with the people, eagerly welcomed the President. Here, on October 2,
he made an address in favor of deep-water transportation, and justified the Pacific
cruise of our battle-ships. Arriving at Memphis at noon, October, 4, he delivered
an address to a large crowd, and then took train for Lake Providence, Louisiana,
in the cane-brake region, where his hunting camp was pitched, and where he spent
a brief season of seclusion and sport.
The President's addresses on this journey are masterful expositions of the
attitude of the government on wrong-doers of great wealth, on the control of
corporations, the Pacific fleet, the value of a Mississippi deep-water way, the
Panama Canal, business and justice, and his own estimation of the character of
President McKinley.
Of the PanamaCanal, he said that in August, 1,200,000 cubic yards were ex-
cavated, and at this rate, the actual digging could be finished in five or six years.
On wrongdoers of wealth he said:
At intervals during the last few months the appeal has been made to me not
to enforce the law against certain wrongdoers of greath wealth, because to do so
would interfere with the business prosperity of the country.
Whenever a serious effort is made to cut out what is evil in our political
life, whether the effort takes the shape of warring against the gross and sordid
forms of evil in some municipality, or whether it takes the shape of trying to
secure the honest enforcement of the law as against very powerful and wealthy
people, there are sure to be certain individuals who demand that the movement
stop, because it may hurt business. In each case the answer must be that we
EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 77
earnestly hope and believe that there will be no permanent damage to business
from the movement, but that if righteousness conflicts with the fancied needs of
business, then the latter must go to the wall.
I am as certain as I can be of anything that the course we are pursuing will
ultimately help business; for the corrupt man of business is as great a foe to this
country as the corrupt politician. Both stand on the same evil eminence of infamy.
Against both it is necessary to war; and if, unfortunately, in either type of war-
fare, a few innocent people are hurt, the responsibility lies not with us, but with
those who have misled them to their hurt.
McKinley Mausoleum Dedicated.— On September 30, at Canton, Ohio,
the monument to William McKinley was dedicated, President Roosevelt attending.
The cost of the monument was $578,000 received in loving contributions from the
people of the United States and many other countries. The bronze statue of
President McKinley, which stands in front of the entrance to the great tomb, was
unveiled by Miss Helen McKinley, the only sister of the late President. The
pedestal supporting this statue bears the following inscription, the words of Presi-
dent Wheeler of the University of California, used in 1901, when the degree of
LL. D. was conferred on President McKinley, at the time of his western journey:
William McKinley, President of the United States ; a statesman singularly
gifted to unite the discordant forces of the government and mould the diverse pur-
poses of men toward progressive and salutary action; a magistrate whose poise of
judgment was tested and vindicated in a succession of national emergencies; good
citizen , brave soldier, wise executive, helper and leader of men, exemplar to his
people of the virtues that build and conserve the State, society and the home.
Mrs. McKinley, the heroine of a great national love story, the sweetheart
wife of the late president, was buried last May. It was her wish that she might
live to see the monument completed, but this consolation was denied her. The
site selected for the memorial is a half mile west of the receiving vault where the
bodies of the President and his wife now lie, and not far from the original
McKinley lot in West Lawn Cemetery.
' 'Not far away" says Joe Mitchell Chappie, "from the resting place of William
McKinley and his wife lie their children. At the head of the two little graves is
a bronze cherub upholding a basket of flowers ; the figure seems the very emblem
of immortality, and almost speaks aloud of victory over death and the grave. Just
over the brook, its waters running 'smooth music from the roughest stone,' on
the crest of the ridge, is the memorial. It is approached by circular terraces with
spacious flights of steps, recalling a picture of some old Grecian temple. Before
it is a lagoon whose tranquil waters lend the charm of a magical restfulness to
the landscape. The memorial may be reached from the rear by two other stair-
ways, and from the height one looks over the beautiful green hills and valleys,
forests and lakes of Stark County. ' '
Nebo Stake Tabernacle. — A new style of church architecture for this
region, excepting, perhaps, Ogden, is the Nebo Stake tabernacle, recently com-
pleted at Payson, Utah, and to be dedicated at the stake conference this Novem-
ber. Its dimensions are 60x125 feet, not including towers and portico. The tow-
78
IMPROVEMENT ERA.
era are 54 feet high. The auditorium is 58x123 feet, with a 28-foot ceiling.
The exterior is of white pressed brick, and the wood is all of Oregon fir, except
the flooring, which is of white maple. The pressed steel ceiling is colored white
and gold, and the walls are a light green, making the color scheme white .and
gold and green. The building is seated with best grade pews, and furnished with
electric lights, steam heating plant; and matting for the aisles. The acoustic
properties, tested by Elders George Albert Smith, Reed Smoot and the stake
presidency, John S. Page, Jr , Hermon Lemon and Henry Gardner, are pronounced
very good. The conveniences and comforts of the building are said to be much
better than some tabernacles costing two or three times as much as this one.
The cost of the completed building is $22,000.
The Awakening. — Since the Japanese proved their ability to defeat the
soldiers of a great European power on the battlefields, the more highly civilized
peoples of Asia have had a great awakening, and as an outcome the agitation for
self-rule is fast gaining momentum among them. In Bengal and Hindustan, there
appears to be a spirit of inquiry as to why the triumph of Japan cannot be re-
peated elsewhere — and as a result there are omens of a desire for self-rule,
accompanied by great unrest throughout India. It is called to mind that the
seemingly fundamental step towards reclothing Japan with dignity and authority ,
after the extinction of the old rule, was the establishment of a constitution, and
the introduction of a parliament. Persia seems to have been the first Asiatic na-
tion to profit by the example, and that country's national assembly is now engaged
•in legislation. The Dowager Empress of China, said to be the most powerful
EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 79
woman ruler in the world, now in her 73rd year, has announced her approval of
many reforms in the administration of the Chinese Empire. She recently ordered
the council of state to prepare plans for the admission of her subjects to a share in
the national government, at no distant date. Hence, it is not surprising that the
more advanced natives of India should begin to enquire of Britain why they also
may not take part in legislation relating to their own affairs. To this end the
Hindus have clled an "Indian National Congress, "and the Mohammedans of India>
who constitute the largest Islamic community on the face of the earth, have
organized an "All Indian Moslem League" with the avowed purpose of preparing
a constitution providing for a national parliament to be finally presented for ap.
provalto the British government. The problem, in case their request is denied
which there is good reason to believe it will be as long as the House of Lords has
a voice in the matter, is one of dreadful gravity. Why? Because, in the Indian
empire there is perhaps less than three million Christians, including soldiers and
civilians, against a mixed mass of 207,000,000 Hindus, 62,000,000 Moham-
medans, and 22,000,000 Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Animists, etc. These three
hundred millions have been resigned and quiescent since the insurrection of 1857,
but now there are signs of upheaval among them which may well excite the pro-
found misgivings of the rulers; this, notwithstanding that the classes or kinds of
people may not be united, for each agitation is on so huge a scale that it may prove
formidable in itself. Owing first to the new Anglo-Russian treaty, and second to
the fact that the artillery is exclusively in British hands, there is little hope that an
uprising could hope for success, but strikes and boycotts of English goods might
be inaugurated, which would mean destruction to many British manufactures, and
this alone is causing many English residents much anxiety.
The Bear and the Lion Lie Down Together.— A new treaty, recently
published, between Russia and Great Britain clearly defines the interests of the
two countries in Central Asia, and if carried out sincerely by both parties will put
a stop to the struggle over Central Asia which has been going on between the two
powers for a large part of the last half century. It is reported that the hope of
Russia to gain the head of the Persian Gulf by rail, and so obtain an ice free sea
port, is now, on account of the treaty, definitely abandoned. India is thus com-
pletely fended by buffer states which Russia for the first time explicitly agrees not to
invade. On the other hand, Great Britain acknowledges the importance of Rus-
sia's commercial interests in Northern Persia, and practically sacrifices all that
was supposed to have been gained by Col. Younghusband's invasion of Tibet. The
action practically allies France with the two great powers, and closes Germany
out from another concert of the Powers, and she will probably on that account be
checked in her commercial advance into Persia. Another result is the practical
ending of the Japanese alliance with Britain which country, being freed from fear
of Russian invasion of India, against which the Japs had promised to assist, finds
the Japanese alliance no longer so necessary. A neutral strip in Persia is provided,
into which the Russian sphere from the north and the British sphere from the
south are not to be extended. The predominent British interests in the Gulf of
Persia are not explicitly recognized in the convention, but as nothing appears to be
80 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
said against them, the English will doubtless continue to enjoy the present privi-
leges. Afghanistan is practically placed under British tutelage. Both countries
agree to treat with Tibit only through the Chinese government.
Utah State Fair.— One of the best, it is safe to say the best — state fairs
ever held in Utah closed a six-days' run on October 5. Better, more important and
more numerous manufacturing exhibits were never before witnessed in the history
of the fair association. The stock and other animal exhibits were very interesting
and satisfactory. The fruit and farm industries, showed market strides of progress
since the fair of two years ago. The exhibits and promises of dry farming were grand
revelations. There were more buildings, more room, better preparation, than
ever before. The amusements were not overlooked, and the horse-racing drew
bigger crowds and got more praise than usual. The mining industry, strange to
say, was nearly lacking, and the art exhibit, though good could be largely improved.
The attendance broke all previous records. On Friday 40,000 people attended,
and on the last day 25,000, while the total attendance was 137,000 against 51,-
500 in 1905. All told, there are $20,000 to the good from gate recipts. The
directors decided to hold a fair next year, to make the mining exhibit a feature,
to improve the entrance acccmmodations, and to add attractive features to every
division and amusement for 1908. President J. G. McDonald and Secretary H. S.
Ensign were delighted with the fair's success, and promise greater things for the
future.
The First Aerogram.— There were failures in Wall Street, political troub-
les, personal and domestic tragedies.strikes, and other important items that filled the
news columns of the daily papers on Thursday, October 17; but no event approached
in importance the fact that on this day the Marconi Wireless Telegraphy Company
began sending trans- Atlantic wireless messages between Canada and Great Britain.
The first message was sent by Sir Wilfred Laurier, Premier of Canada, congratu-
lating the British people on the new means of communication between Great Brit-
ain and Canada. The message was received without a flaw in the office at Clif-
den, Ireland, and flashed from there to every newspaper in the kingdom. The
rate per word for Atlantic messages is ten cents. Think of sending accurately
twenty words a minute, three thousand miles, through the air, without a wire to
guide them! It is not only a stupendous scientific feat, but an epoch-making
marvel, one of the most wonderful achievements of man recorded in history !
J. B. Robbins, A. C. Keeley, R. Dumbcck
S. L. Bird, Manager. S. B. Robbins
Cream Shipped everywhere
KEELEY
ICE CREAM COMPANY
Wholesale and Retail Maken of
Pure Ice Cream,
Sherbets,
Water Ices,
Fancy Bricks,
Frozen Puddings,
Punches, Etc.
HIGH GRADE CANDIES
Delivered to Any Part of the City
Factory and Office, 260 State St.
Both Phones 3223 Prompt Service,
Salt Like City, Utah.
•2»2i2S0,n,0,';,",,0,ri*':,»^#0»0*,",*^»o»o»o»o«o»o»o»c»o»o
o»0»o»o»c ».-->• _»_.«i»o»^«o»j« ..■•;•_• •••••••« •_•
2 ALBERT S. REISER 1
S2 »°
• •
I JEWELER 1
No. 12 E. 1st South St.,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
%
%
Choice line of
SS
SS
WATCHES,
DIAMONDS,
JEWELRY,
COT GLASS.
SILYERWARE,
^OPTICAL GOODS.
Fine Watch and Jewelry Repairing
Mail order* solicited .
Bell Telephone 2640 k.
SK
|
•O»O»O«0tQfOf0«Q»0fQ»C»00O»n»-.». P • > • * * • • . .
The REMINGTON AUTOLOADING SHOTGON "Browning's Patent'
It was the Remington Autoloading Shotgun, in ihe hands of an amateur,
that won the recent Grand American Handicap against 495 contestants. It is
the PERFECT gun for trap and field.
Send fur our 150 page catalog; it is free. We have "Ever ything for
Every Sport in Every Season."
BROWNING BROS. CO.,
Ogden, Utah.
The Ensign Knitting Co.
Positively make* the best SWEATERS and KNITTED UNDERWEAR in the West
APPROVED GARMENTS of the well-known original Nauvoo Brand always on hand.
Their Mountain Lion Brand HOSIERY is as nearly hole-proof as can be, and U strictly
guaranteed.
If your dealers do not carry their goods, call or write to the factory direct,1
30 and 22 Richards Street, Salt Lake City, Utah,
(When writing to Advertisers, please mention the Era.)
SCENIC LINE OF THE WORLD
f\ pai}ora(i)a
Of ffatural
Beauty all
fl?e U/ay.
Canyon of the Grande Canyon of the Gunnison
Eagle River Canyon Garden of the Gods
Wagon Wheel Gap Manitou Springs
Glenwood Springs The Royal Gorge
PULLMAN AND TOURIST SLEEPERS
TO DENVER, ST. LOUIS AND CHICAGO
For Folders, Booklets, etc., address I. A. BENTON, Gi A. P. D., Salt Lake City, Utah
It Dosen't Matter Where You Co
YOU WANT TO GET THERE QUICKLY.
YOU WANT TO TRAVEL WITH THE
GREATEST COMFORT.
GOING EAST the
SOLVES
THE
PROBLEM
THE
ROUTE IS
SHORT
THE TRAINS ARE OF THE BEST.
CITY TICKET OFFICE, 201 MAIN STREET
(When writing to Advertisers, please mention the Era.)
The SALT LAKE ROUTE
Saves a whole day's travel between Salt Lake City and Arizona,
New Mexico and Southern California points.
The route of the famous "LOS ANGELES LIMITED." A
solid Pullman train, both Standard and Tourist Sleepers, Dining
and Observation Cars between Chicago and Los Angeles
Direct connections at Colton and Daggett, California, to and
from Arizona and New Mexico Points.
The principal towns of central and southern Utah are on this line.
For further information, ask your nearest ticket agent, or address
T. C. PECK, J. H. BURTNER,
General Passenger Agent District Passenger Agent,
Los Angeles. Salt Lake City
IMPROVEMENT ERA, NOVEMBER, 1907.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Lost Scriptures. Frederic Clift, A.B., M.D. 1
The Storm God. .A Poem Maud Baggarley 12
The Thoughts of a Farmer Dr. Joseph M. Tanner 13
Romance*of a Missionary— I. A Story Nephi Anderson 17
Autumn. A Poem Ruth M. Fox 26
Pre-Existence Charles H. White 27
A Link of Life Prof. Willard Done 32
Watch O'er Me. A Poem Harold Goff 36
The Withdrawal. A Story Kate Thomas 37
The Training of Children in the Home Alice Peet Bishop 42
The Courtship of Autumn. A Poem Theo. E. Curtis 48
Echo of the Ages. A Poem Grace Ingles Frost 51
"Mother and Sister Might Hear." Prof. Albert M. Merrill 52
Portrait of Anthony W. Ivins • 54
Editor's Table— Thanksgiving Day— Church Literature in Japan 55
Messages from the Missions 59
Notes • 61
In Lighter Mood 62
Seventy's Council Table 63
Mutual Work— Helping to Get Fifteen Thousand 67
Planned Work Noah S. Pond 68
Changes in Stake Superintendents 71
Records and Roll Books 73
Events and Comments Edward H. Anderson 74
tfiuninniin im-m-m-m-k-h
■M-M-l 1 1-H I III 1 I M-M
Gents' fall ana Winter Suits
WE have just received a very attractive and
stylish line of big and little men's suits;
exclusive and becoming styles in men's,
boys' and youths' fall clothing in the very latest
fabrics. You will be pleased and attracted with the
style and cut, and for good wear you cannot be
better served. We invite you to visit our clothing
Department — you will be well repaid.
Strong and Serviceable School Suits.
Where you
get
the Best
Z. C M. I.
Our Drug
Store is at 112
114 Main St.
lumilUlllll |m|..|..|..|..|..h..|..|.ih.i..|..|„u.|..h..m..|„|..i..i..m»I"1-1"I"I 1 ■!■■!■■:■♦
■!■■! M-M-!"! 'H-I'l M-M-H"! ■!■■! I I I-I-I'-I-I-I-l-I-l-l- I-I-l-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I- I-I-l-I-l-I-l*
fcdvaoTt-
PHONOGRAPH T
The Acme of Realism.
HE most wonderful inven- !!
tion of the present age. '.'.
Prices now within the reach of ! '.
all. Machines from $10.00 to ; ;
$50.00. Records 35c. each. \\
Every home should have a. ! \
Phonograph. You can always ] !
entertain your company with '.'.
an Edison. Write or call for ', ',
particulars.
Eve* ythinjr known in Music.
. . c
CLAYTON MUSIC CO.,
Leading Music Dealers. J 09- U- J 3 So. Main. ; :
+•: H"H-rH"l"H"H"H'HlK»i I I I I ■M'fr'H-!' H"M"H"H I I 1 1'M'l M-M I1
(Wkes writing to Advwtieert. plea** mention the Eia.)
Live Music
Archive
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